<\/p>\n
Construction on I-635 and LBJ East, one of North Texas’ busiest highways, is almost done.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vernon Bryant\/Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
The Interstate 635<\/a> East project, also known as Lyndon B. Johnson East, is nearing the end, with most of the roadway now open. The reconstruction of the highway started six years ago, but plans were made long before the crews came in.\u00a0<\/p>\n During this time, North Texas motorists navigated detours, lane closures and constant construction on their commutes. Now, the project is entering its final stretch and transportation officials estimate construction will be completed by the end of the summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n Why is I-635, LBJ East being reconstructed?<\/p>\n The highway first opened in 1969, originally designed for a much smaller region, and could withstand about 180,000 cars per day. The Texas Department of Transportation estimates the current traffic volume on I-635 is about 230,000 cars per day.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Dallas\u2019 population has significantly grown since the interstate\u2019s construction. The city’s population increased from 844,401 in the 1970 <\/a>U.S. Census to an estimated 1,329,491 as of July 1, 2025, about a 57% increase, according to the U.S. Census Bureau<\/a>.<\/p>\n Due to the region\u2019s population increase, the highway often ranks<\/a> as one of the state\u2019s most congested corridors. As part of TxDOT\u2019s <\/a>statewide Texas Clear Lanes initiative, the transportation authority wanted to address the busiest roads and improve mobility on major motorways.\u00a0<\/p>\n How much did construction cost?<\/p>\n The I-635 East project is one of the largest highway investments in Dallas County, with a budget of $1.74 billion. Public updates have not identified major cost increases beyond the design-build contract value, which requires TxDOT to report the overall amount rather than incremental spending totals.\u00a0<\/p>\n The design-build contract was finalized in 2019, and construction crews broke ground in spring of 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n What work is being done on the interstate?<\/p>\n From east of U.S. Highway 75 in north Dallas to Interstate 30 in Mesquite, 11 miles of the highway have been rebuilt, including the I-635 and I-30 interchange. The general purpose lanes were expanded and opened in spring. The existing managed lanes are still being rebuilt. Crews are still installing and testing tolling equipment.\u00a0<\/p>\n By the end of the summer, I-635 will have 10 general purpose lanes and two managed toll lanes. One additional general purpose lane was added in each direction, while the managed lanes were completely rebuilt.<\/p>\n Continuous frontage roads were added, parallel to the interstate, with two to three lanes in each direction. As part of the project, the Skillman Street Bridge was reconstructed and opened last September.\u00a0<\/p>\n Although most drivers can use the new roadway, occasional temporary overnight closures will occur through the end of construction. According to TxDOT, only finishing touches such as landscaping, sod placement and paint touchups remain.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Who has this project impacted?<\/p>\n For more than six years, the LBJ East project has affected nearly everyone who uses or lives near the interstate. The continuous construction has brought changing traffic patterns, lane closures and detours while rebuilding one of the region\u2019s busiest highways without fully closing it.\u00a0<\/p>\n The interstate connects motorists from cities such as Richardson, Dallas, Mesquite and Garland. This corridor serves as one of the primary east-west connectors in the region, linking commuters to major employment centers, schools and shopping centers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Improvements to I-635 East are meant to benefit not only the daily interstate commuters but also regional traffic by reducing bottleneck congestion with U.S. 75 and I-30.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Construction on I-635 and LBJ East, one of North Texas’ busiest highways, is almost done.\u00a0 Vernon Bryant\/Dallas Morning…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":972080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,9886,1596,6228,358,324473,522,3187,8320,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-972079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-america","tag-construction","tag-dallas","tag-service","tag-texas","tag-tp-transportation","tag-transportation","tag-tx","tag-txdot","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117016646464683429","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=972079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/972080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=972079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=972079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=972079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n