DFW Connector

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) in the US has announced the opening of the DFW Connector, the $1bn roads project developed to ease traffic movement to and around Dallas / Fort Worth International Airport.

Completed nine months ahead of the schedule, the project marks TxDOT’s first public-private partnership to open to traffic in North Texas.

The programme, which commenced in early 2010, increased the capacity of the existing highway from 12 to 24 lanes, and will also add TEXpress-managed lanes in the area where multiple state roadways converge north of DFW International Airport.

TxDOT executive director Phil Wilson said that using a design build concept and financing tools provided by the legislature enabled the department to complete the DFW Connector 11 years sooner and save more than $400 million versus traditional methods.

"Completed nine months ahead of the schedule, the project marks TxDOT’s first public-private partnership to open to traffic in North Texas."

"That is a huge deal for the 180,000 motorists who rely on this corridor to get to and from work," Wilson added.

The new DFW Connector is an eight-mile highway that links state highways 114 and 121, and adjacent roadways situated north of DFW International Airport, which is the fourth-busiest airport in the world.

The project includes multiple major interchanges, 39 bridges, new direct connect ramps and continuous frontage road lanes, along with two managed toll TEXpress lanes in each direction on SH 114, which will open in early 2014.

The new design-build project has been executed by TxDOT and project partner NorthGate Constructors.

Image: The new DFW Connector helps 180,000 motorists who use the corridor everyday. Photo: courtesy of NorthGate Constructors.