Traffic Forces Expansion
PLANO (CBSDFW.COM) - It's the end of the work week, and Josh Moore says the last thing he wants to face is traffic on the Dallas North Tollway and President George Bush Turnpike.
Moore says, "On the way home from work, it's very frustrating especially on a day like today a Friday when everyone's trying to get home as fast as possible."
Which is hard to do when the popular toll roads become stop and go during rush hour.
Emily Klinec says she tries to avoid the toll roads and the clogged toll road interchanges especially.
Klinec says, "It's extremely frustrating to be on that overpass for like 20 minutes."
It took us about 15 minutes to go half a mile -- to get from the westbound Bush onto the northbound toll way.
The North Texas Tollway Authority says traffic on the Bush -- east of I-35E to State Highway 78 has jumped by about 1.2 million vehicles from March 2010 to March of this year.
During that same time, traffic on the toll way, north of LBJ to Frisco has increased by more than 700,000 vehicles.
The NTTA says it's happening because more people are moving here, their toll roads are expanding, and other highways are going through construction.
Spokesman Michael Rey says, "It's also probably for many people a good alternative to avoid the construction on LBJ during the LBJ Express project, they can go along the northern part of the metro and avoid it."
To ease congestion, the NTTA has planned to add a fourth lane in both directions on the toll way between the Bush and 121 by 2016.
They are also planning to widen the connectors from the Bush to the northbound toll way by the same date.
Each of those projects would cost $120 million.
The NTTA also has plans to add a lane in each direction on the Bush between I-35E and State Highway 78 by 2018.
All of the proposals still have to be approved by the NTTA.
But Josh Moore likes the plans. "An extra lane is hopefully going to cause more traffic flow, you can get through there a lot quicker."
