390 replies to this topic

[Doohickie]

I know that. There were two completely separate thoughts. The first was in response to the post preceding it:

"Also, look for the closure of West Rosedale Street between University Drive and Lovell Avenue to occur soon."

"Is that where the University ramp will be?"



The second was a response to the picture:

""

"This picture seems so quaint right now."



I know the spot well. It was a regular part of my bicycle commute for two years.

[JBB]

If by "University ramp" you mean from the new parkway, that would be a no. If I remember correctly, after it starts at Summit, the next exits from either direction are at Montgomery and Stonegate (or is that Clear Fork Main?).

[Thurman52]

Handy map of the project for this section. http://www.ntta.org/...f9_HALFSIZE.pdf

[Doohickie]

Ah, I see now. The CTP crowds out Rosedale. I think if it were a priority, they could have kept Rosedale connectivity using the CTP ramps but they didn't bother.

[RD Milhollin]

Ah, I see now. The CTP crowds out Rosedale. I think if it were a priority, they could have kept Rosedale connectivity using the CTP ramps but they didn't bother.

Can you be more specific about where "connectivity" is lacking? It looks to me that there is a lot of ways to get from one roadway to another in most every direction, this in a relatively small area with a lot of roads going in several different directions. I can't see where any existing connection between any two existing roads is sacrificed in favor of yielding space for the new tollway.

[JBB]

Rosedale isn't being crowded out. CTP will run between the railroad track/Vickery and I-30 from Summit to University. It will cross under the Rosedale to West Vickery ramps just west of Rogers. I'm assuming that the coming closure of Rosedale is so that the bridges can be altered to make room for the new roadway similar to what was done to the I-30 to Rosedale ramps earlier this year.

[Thurman52]

John, might I suggest we split this thread one for construction and one for pros cons of the project and or the design / route?

[Doohickie]

Can you be more specific about where "connectivity" is lacking?

I'm talking about the connectivity from Rosedale (east of University) to Lovell/Vickery (west of University). I see now that the westbound route will be pretty much the same, and after looking at the map I can see that there will be a way to get from Vickery to Rosedale going eastbound, but it is no longer a direct-flow ramp. Instead, a driver would need to turn right onto the extension of Montgomery, then left onto the CTP ramp. When I looked earlier I didn't see that path. It's there, just not as effortless as it used to be.

[John T Roberts]

I will try to split this thread up between construction and pros and cons for the project sometime this week.

[Thurman52]

Thanks!

[Thurman52]

Nice today , so I walked some of the contstruction area today at Arbor Lawn. I expected more done. The huge sound wall along country day is complete the frontage road along is poured. Columns for Arbor Lawn are up, but no approaches for the east. curious how they plan to handle drainage as it borderline wetlands down in some sections of the area

[AndyN]

Hmmm..... Well, I had been planning to split the topic for some time, but it seems like I do not have permission to do that. I still seem to have moderator functions, they're just not functioning.

[John T Roberts]

Andy, I re-entered your status as this forum's moderator. I don't know why it is not working.

[Thurman52]

TxDOT has been warning drivers of the impending closure of Insurance Ln and EB exit from 183. They opened the WB frontage road this past week, eliminating the detour around the construction of the new bridge. NTTA send weekly email about the timeline for removal of the bridge and the start of the reconstruction and lowering of 183.

Hulen street bridge appears to continue their work, but focus appears to be getting NB Hulen open at Vickery stoplight. Should help with traffic flow.

IH 30 they are stacking concrete barriers, for installation along 30, my guess waiting for stock show to end then start narrowing the lanes.

Anyone know if they are doing much south of 20 yet?

[John T Roberts]

They are working south of I-20. I was on Oakmont last week and they were moving dirt in that location.

[Doohickie]

TxDOT has been warning drivers of the impending closure of Insurance Ln and EB exit from 183.

I found out "the hard way" yesterday that the EB ENTRANCE at Bryant Irvin is also closed. When I tried to get on there, there is no way to enter 183. Instead, the access road ends at the southbound Chisholm Trail access road, which leads to the westbound I-20 access road, which took me back to where I started.

Lesson learned, I guess.

And yes, they are working diligently south of I-20, all the way past Dirks Road.

[John T Roberts]

It might be interesting to do a forum bike ride where we ride from far South Fort Worth along the roads that parallel the parkway all the way down to Cleburne.

I go through the construction zone on I-20 and westbound 183 every morning to work now since we moved near the Traffic Circle. I return home on I-30 & either Forest Park or 8th Avenue. I sometimes used to shop at the big box stores near 183 and Bryant Irvin, but due to existing traffic congestion and the road construction, I don't even go over there anymore. Lately, I've been frequenting the stores on 183 near Green Oaks.

[Doohickie]

I drive in the Hulen area quite a bit. I've learned the workarounds. But yeah... it's kind of bad right now.

[hannerhan]

Does anyone know the height of the tallest ramp in the freeway stack at Chisolm and I-20? While I'm not a huge fan of the money being spent on this project, I do appreciate a good freeway interchange and this one is going to be the most impressive in Tarrant County I think. Would be interesting to know how the highest ramps compare with downtown FW or the High Five in Dallas.

[elpingüino]

Does anyone know the height of the tallest ramp in the freeway stack at Chisolm and I-20?

The bottom of this map shows that interchange. Maybe someone with more expertise can translate it into height. I see at least one spot where the stack will have four levels of ramps: I-20, CTP, ramp from NB CTP to WB I-20, and ramp from WB I-20 to SB CTP.

I might be most excited that there will finally be a ramp from Hulen directly to westbound I-20 ... no more having to wait in a bottleneck at Bryant Irvin just to get on the freeway.

[Doohickie]

I might be most excited that there will finally be a ramp from Hulen directly to westbound I-20 ... no more having to wait in a bottleneck at Bryant Irvin just to get on the freeway.

Everything old is new again. We had such a ramp in 1990.

[hannerhan]

Does anyone know the height of the tallest ramp in the freeway stack at Chisolm and I-20?

The bottom of this map shows that interchange. Maybe someone with more expertise can translate it into height. I see at least one spot where the stack will have four levels of ramps: I-20, CTP, ramp from NB CTP to WB I-20, and ramp from WB I-20 to SB CTP.

I might be most excited that there will finally be a ramp from Hulen directly to westbound I-20 ... no more having to wait in a bottleneck at Bryant Irvin just to get on the freeway.

It is actually a 5 level stack once you count the access roads. We also have 5 levels at I-35W/I-20 and in the downtown stack as well, so this one should be comparable to those in terms of height. It's also more complicated than most because the 183 confluence adds ramps that you wouldn't normally have in a regular two freeway interchange. Will be cool to see how it all comes together.

[Thurman52]

Good rendering and fly over animation here...

[mmiller2002]

I love the cars they selected. I can't tell which direction is NSEW.

[Doohickie]

I love the cars they selected. I can't tell which direction is NSEW.

Through about the 0:26 mark, you are following 183 eastward into the interchange. 183 is the through road that is recessed into the ground. After the fade, you are looking south along the Chisholm Trail Parkway; the building that looks like it has its corner cut off is Kohl's. Maybe that helps.

[John T Roberts]

Doohickie, you are correct. The building with the corner cut off is Kohl's. It was built that way to clear the right-of-way for the exit ramp and service road.

[elpingüino]

There's a story in this morning's Star-Telegram about the road's progress -- and fewer complaints. Plus some cool aerial photos.

Signs of progress evident on Chisholm Trail Parkway

In the second picture, I'm wondering what necessitates the extra concentration of piers south of Overton Ridge. I don't think there's a complicated interchange that far south of I-20.

[johnfwd]

There's a story in this morning's Star-Telegram about the road's progress -- and fewer complaints. Plus some cool aerial photos.

Signs of progress evident on Chisholm Trail Parkway

In the second picture, I'm wondering what necessitates the extra concentration of piers south of Overton Ridge. I don't think there's a complicated interchange that far south of I-20.

So sorry! Didn't know you had already posted the article.

[sparq]

Being 105 feet above the ground, technically, if one drives on SH 183, it would be 145 feet! High Five interchange is 140 feet above the ground - when driving on US 75.

[John T Roberts]

I think the reason why there are so many columns being placed here is that this is where all the ramps are diverging away and merging into the main lanes from the I-20/TX 183 interchange. At Overton Ridge, the parkway has to go over the boulevard and go over the creek. That's why there are bridges there. The service roads are also planned to go over the creek.

[Doohickie]

HA! Everyone can keep their mixmasters, we have a "spaghetti bowl"! I love the name; hope it sticks.

[360texas]

Maybe the hi-way engineers used to work at Six Flags over Texas ?

[sparq]

Not Spaghetti Bowl - is that in Atlanta or Las Vegas?

How about the Star [Interchange} - an interchange going into five directions?

Please use your creativity with the word star.

[RD Milhollin]

Not Spaghetti Bowl - is that in Atlanta or Las Vegas?

How about the Star [Interchange} - an interchange going into five directions?

Please use your creativity with the word star.

Big Star, Lone Star, Southwest Star, Road Star, Toll Star, Death Star, Fort Worth Tarrant, DFW, FWD, Metroplex Star, Spanish Star, Cintra Star, Overton Star, Hulen Star, ...

Since it is being built in conjunction with the Chisholm Trail road, how about:

The Stampede: "A wild and uncontrollable run by a herd of spooked cattle or horses"

[Russ Graham]

Not Spaghetti Bowl - is that in Atlanta or Las Vegas?

How about the Star [Interchange} - an interchange going into five directions?

Please use your creativity with the word star.

Big Star, Lone Star, Southwest Star, Road Star, Toll Star, Death Star, Fort Worth Tarrant, DFW, FWD, Metroplex Star, Spanish Star, Cintra Star, Overton Star, Hulen Star, ...

Since it is being built in conjunction with the Chisholm Trail road, how about:

The Stampede: "A wild and uncontrollable run by a herd of spooked cattle or horses"

How about (in the tradition of Fort Worth Cowtown puns) "The Cattle Chute"? When traffic gets backed up we could call it "The Holding Pen".

[sparq]

+1 to both above.

Cattle Chute - that's a good one, if this interchange plans to have a steep merge (if going west-south direction on High Five). Can anyone confirm it?

[Doohickie]

Not Spaghetti Bowl - is that in Atlanta or Las Vegas?

How about the Star [Interchange} - an interchange going into five directions?

Please use your creativity with the word star.

Big Star, Lone Star, Southwest Star, Road Star, Toll Star, Death Star, Fort Worth Tarrant, DFW, FWD, Metroplex Star, Spanish Star, Cintra Star, Overton Star, Hulen Star, ...

Since it is being built in conjunction with the Chisholm Trail road, how about:

The Stampede: "A wild and uncontrollable run by a herd of spooked cattle or horses"

This came up in conversation today, and the name that seemed appropriate was The Flying Spaghetti Monster.

[urbancowboy]

I like cattle shoot.

[Doohickie]

A few days ago I traveled 183 from the circle into I-20.  All I can say is wow, is it in the bottom of a deep canyon.

[mmiller2002]

Why can't I see the latest posts? The last I see is 25 March.

[John T Roberts]

The board automatically records the most recent poll vote as the latest post.  So, if someone voted between now and March then you will get a notification of a new post.  It appears the last written post was in March.  I think that is a setting that can be turned off. 

[Funkutown Retro Retro]

Any new updates on this?

[JBB]

There's a thread about it, but no one has posted in awhile.

 

Construction is under way along the full length of the road and I still hear that it is set to open late 2014.  The interchanges at I-20 and I-30 still have a long way to go, but it looks like much of the roadway is nearing completion in between and south of those interchanges.  There's a lot of work still ongoing on bridges and overpasses along the way.  At I-30, some of the milestones that were mentioned as happening late-spring or early summer haven't happened yet: permanent closure of the westbound Forest Park exit, temporary closure of the eastbound University entrance ramp, opening of the newly constructed eastbound lanes of I-30 (although that looks to be well under way and the 2 closures may be dependent on that happening).  There still seems to be lot of work left to go on the stretch between University and Montgomery.  I'm more familiar with the work happening north of I-20 since that's the area where I spend much of my time,

[Funkutown Retro Retro]

I can't wait til its complete!!

[John T Roberts]

The two threads have been merged.

[Funkutown Retro Retro]

I love mergers!!

[John T Roberts]

I cross through the parkway construction area on I-20/TX 183 in the morning and back through it on I-30 in the afternoon, and I see progress every day on the interchanges.  I also ride the Trinity Trail about once a week, and I also see changes with the roadway every time that I ride.  I can tell you that work is progressing at a regular pace.

[mmiller2002]

I can't wait til its complete!!

 

I agree.  However, I wish it was never started...

 

It's a huge inconvenience on those who live in FW proper to benefit those who don't...After it's done, it seems like it will be in the way of the locals' surface travel.

[360texas]

Just was looking at Google Earth. 

 

Seems the Cleburne to Fort Worth toll road aerial images have been updated [10Apr2013] to see the new construction. 

 

North end of the toll road are bit messy even zoomed in between Forest Park Blvd and Summit/ I 30.   

 

You can see pictures of the bridge work  at Sycamore School Road and other road crossing points farther south to Cleburne.  Alot of creek box culverts going in.  Looks like the right-of-way clearing and grading sort of stops when intersecting HW 67 on North Side Cleburne.

[John T Roberts]

Yes, US 67 and Nolan River is the end of the road for the parkway.  Please pardon the pun.