TRAVEL IMPACTS OF URBAN FREEWAY RECONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN TEXAS. INTERIM REPORT

This report documents a review of the travel impacts of six urban freeway reconstruction projects throughout the United States and analysis of the travel impacts of five projects in Texas. The review includes projects in Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston, Seattle, Detroit, and Milwaukee. The five projects in Texas include I-35 in Austin, US-75 in Plano, I-45 North Freeway in Houston, I-35W in Fort Worth, and I-10 in El Paso. The traffic control plans for the projects in Texas were similar: the same number of freeway lanes as existed before reconstruction were maintained, but there were minor freeway capacity reductions associated with off-peak lane closures, reductions in lane and shoulder widths, ramp closures, frontage road lane closures, and detours within the right-of-way. None of the five projects in Texas had serious adverse impacts on traffic patterns or travel times either on the freeway or elsewhere in the corridor. However, the projects in Plano and Fort Worth, where access to the freeway was restricted by frontage road lane closures and ramp closures, respectively, did cause some diversion of traffic away from the freeway.