In Precinct 4, we continue to work closely with our communities and Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) officials to ensure our region is keeping up with the tremendous growth as well as maintaining our county roads.
As you drive along our major thoroughfares, you see the new housing developments, retail businesses, and companies expanding their footprint into the southwest corner of Denton County through the northwest corner – which falls within my rather large precinct.
Major thoroughfares we are working on range from the widening of State Highway 114 between I-35W and Hwy 377, to FM 1171 which will be extended west from I-35W to west of FM 156.
Construction plans are continuing along Hwy 377 in three sections – Roanoke, Argyle, and the Denton Creek Section, all designed to handle the significant increase in traffic along that corridor. We will be widening existing two-lane rural roads to four-lane urban sections. Some of our work on 377 involves moving existing utilities prior to the widening in Argyle, while meanwhile we have engaged engineers to analyze the potential environmental impact in the Denton Creek Section.
One upcoming project will cause some difficulty negotiating the merge of I-35W, I-35E and I-35 in Denton. This area frequently is jammed with traffic and the solution will be to rebuild and widen the interchange and existing frontage roads to a six-to-eight-lane freeway with ramp modifications.
While it might take a few years to finish, this reconstruction of the merge will mean easier access to a main corridor for communities both east and west as well as north and south of the Hwy 380 intersection.
On I-35 North from U.S. 77 to the Cooke County line, work is beginning now to widen the highway to a six-lane freeway with rebuilt frontage roads and ramp modifications. This work started with a schematic approval of plans in January 2019. Segmented into four projects, the work is slated to begin at different times from late this year through late 2027.
We also expect to have a set of plans ready to go at some point this year on Loop 288 West frontage roads, starting the process for a full circle Loop 288 in the City of Denton. While construction is still likely a few years away, it is an example of how the process works as it moves toward completion.
Long before you see construction crews and orange cones on roads, engineers and officials have been discussing and planning the roads for many years.
Denton County is known for our advance planning, which helps us to be ready to go when funding for future road projects is identified. We do the legwork it takes on major projects to receive state and federal funding, and we work closely with our communities to help fund their projects as well.
Thanks to your overwhelming support in November 2022, we have $650 million in road bonds to use toward the above projects and many others in the early planning stages. We issued the first tranche of funds at $110 million in August 2023.
Our advance planning includes Denton’s Outer Loop, a six-lane controlled access freeway with continuous frontage roads from I-35 to the Dallas North Tollway at the Denton/Collin County line. This project is part of a larger system of proposed highways that link together to form a Regional Outer Loop, extending east into Collin County, and then south through eastern Collin County, Rockwall County and into Kaufman County.
You can find more information on this project at DentonCountyOuterLoop.com.
Thanks again for approving our 2022 Road Bond package, and when you see those bright orange cones popping up everywhere, remember that they are placed there to show your tax dollars at work!
Contact Commissioner Dianne Edmondson by email at [email protected] or phone her at 972-434-3960. You can also stop by her office in the Southwest Courthouse, 6200 Canyon Falls Drive, Suite 900, in Flower Mound.
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