Texas 360 expansion project to proceed as toll road

A key piece of the mobility puzzle for southern Tarrant County is finally being put in place.

Officials with a slew of transportation and government agencies broke ground Wednesday in Grand Prairie for the expansion of Texas 360 from south Arlington to Mansfield, a key north-south route that has long been a traffic bottleneck.

Texas 360 is a multi-lane freeway that stretches from Grapevine south to Arlington, but it tapers off to frontage roads as it passes Green Oaks Boulevard in south Arlington and Grand Prairie.

Mansfield Mayor David Cook said that during rush hour Texas 360 is referred to as a “parking lot,” but said that this project will change that — and much more.

“This gives us an opportunity to get citizens in and out of traffic, provide a better driving experience and a lot of economic development opportunities,” Cook said.

Here are five things you need to know about the project:

1. Construction crews will begin work on the $330 million project later this month or early November with a goal of substantial completion ub late 2017. The project is a partnership among the Texas Department of Transportation, Regional Transportation Commission and North Texas Tollway Authority. Under the agreement, TxDOT will finance the project and the NTTA will repay the loan over 35 years from tolls paid on expanded roadway. TxDOT will maintain the road for the first five years of the project and then NTTA will own, operate and maintain the project.

2. The 9.7-mile reconstruction project stretches from Green Oaks Boulevard in Arlington to U.S. 287 in Mansfield. Initially the highway will have two northbound and southbound toll lanes and frontage roads, which will remain free.

It is separate from the project to rebuild the Interstate 30 interchange with Texas 360, which currently passes over I-30 and does not connect directly to the east-west freeway.

3. More than 52,000 drivers use the portion of roadway that is being expanded. Traffic projections show that by 2030 there will be 174,000 drivers daily on Texas 360 south of Interstate 20.

4. Six intersections will have bridges over Texas 360, at Sublett Road/Camp Wisdom Road, Lynn Creek Parkway, Debbie Lane/Ragland Road, Holland Road, East Broad Street and Heritage Parkway.

5. The project is a partnership involving TxDOT; NTTA; North Central Texas Council of Governments; Ellis, Johnson and Tarrant counties; and the cities of Arlington, Grand Prairie and Mansfield. Lane-Abrams Joint Venture was selected to design-build the project.

“The partnership that exists in this part of Tarrant County is remarkable,” Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams said.

This story was originally published October 21, 2015 at 6:22 PM with the headline "Texas 360 expansion project to proceed as toll road."