Some North Texas toll roads close as winter storm approaches; ice, snow expected
CORRECTION:
This story has been updated to reflect that North Texas Tollway Authority toll lanes remain open.
The company that owns the Interstate 35W toll road that was the site of a deadly pileup a year ago said the managed lanes in Dallas-Fort Worth are being closed ahead of the winter storm.
“The entire DFW Managed Lane System is being closed due to the impending severe winter weather storm,” NTE Mobility Partners spokesperson Robert Hinkle said in a Wednesday email. “In coordination with TxDOT, we closed the managed lanes throughout the region so that we can focus our efforts and resources on the main lanes of travel.”
A spokesperson for TxDOT’s Fort Worth region said it’s unclear how long the lanes will remain closed.
“We will continue to monitor the weather and conditions over the coming days and then make the decision as to when they can be reopened,” spokesperson Val Lopez said in a text.
North Texas Tollway Authority toll lanes remain open, a spokesperson said in a Thursday email.
Six people died in a pileup of more than 130 cars on a stretch of toll road north of downtown Fort Worth in February 2021.
The company has released limited information about what’s been done to prevent crashes like the one last year, citing a National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the accident and pending litigation.
“We can say this… we are currently operating pursuant to our winter maintenance program, and we review and revise our processes on an ongoing basis,” Hinkle said in a Jan. 27 statement. “Safety is, and always has been, a top priority in our daily operations for the thousands of motorists that we serve every day.”
A winter storm warning is in effect for 6 p.m. Wednesday through 6 p.m. Thursday for Dallas-Fort Worth. There’s a 100% chance of wintry mix Wednesday night before the precipitation changes to snow, with one to three inches expected in Tarrant County. Ice accumulations could be two-tenths to one-half of an inch, according to the National Weather Service.
The precipitation will end sometime Thursday evening. Temperatures are expected to be around 19 and won’t climb above freezing until Friday, when the high is expected to be 35.
State officials on Tuesday expressed confidence in power grid preparations but cautioned there could be outages resulting from ice on power lines or trees falling on them. A year ago, Texas’ power crisis left millions without electricity for days amid freezing temperatures.
Southwest Airlines said it would not have service from Love Field on Thursday. American Airlines also announced flight cancellations on travel advisories at DFW Airport and in Amarillo, Lubbock and Wichita Falls.
Schools across the region canceled classes Thursday and Friday, and government offices and service organizations adjusted their schedules.
The Texas Department of Transportation was among the state agencies that joined Gov. Greg Abbott for a Tuesday news conference on the winter storm. Executive Director Marc Williams, speaking statewide, said the department cannot guarantee roads will be safe.
“Particularly ice is a very dangerous, very treacherous set of conditions for motorists to deal with on our roadways, so we don’t want to give anyone a false sense of security that you’re not going to encounter hazardous conditions if you get out during this type of event,” he said.
Williams encouraged drivers to avoid driving on icy and snow-covered roads.
TxDOT is taking steps to do additional pretreatment of roads in areas where they believe there could be additional ice accumulation, he said. Williams said pretreatment occurs first with a brine solution that’s applied before the winter weather event.
“We also keep an eye to when we may have precipitation — rain — in advance of that, and if we’re able to, we go back and reapply that brine solution, because sometimes if there’s a rain event that precedes this weather, which we expect, some of that brine solution gets worked off,” he said.
This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 1:26 PM.
