Lake Lewisville Bride To Become A Toll Road?

[UNTflyer]

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Toll lanes may become a reality for a busy stretch of Interstate 35E in Denton County.

The Lake Lewisville bridge on I-35E is notorious for backups during the morning and evening commute. State and local transportation officials surveyed the strip of highway Tuesday morning during part of the planning stage of the expansion.

Lawmakers want to widen the bridge to four lanes each way, and include four toll lanes.

But the idea of a toll rubs some North Texas drivers the wrong way.

"You pay $4.50 a gallon for gas, then you're going to pay a toll to get on the road you pay taxes to fix? That's kind of stupid," said Tom Hammer, Denton County resident.

The project would cover 28 miles and cost an estimated $2.9 billion.

Currently, the expansion has not approved and is just in the planning stages.

[GoMeanGreen1999]

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Toll lanes may become a reality for a busy stretch of Interstate 35E in Denton County.

The Lake Lewisville bridge on I-35E is notorious for backups during the morning and evening commute. State and local transportation officials surveyed the strip of highway Tuesday morning during part of the planning stage of the expansion.

Lawmakers want to widen the bridge to four lanes each way, and include four toll lanes.

But the idea of a toll rubs some North Texas drivers the wrong way.

"You pay $4.50 a gallon for gas, then you're going to pay a toll to get on the road you pay taxes to fix? That's kind of stupid," said Tom Hammer, Denton County resident.

The project would cover 28 miles and cost an estimated $2.9 billion.

Currently, the expansion has not approved and is just in the planning stages.

Before I say this, let me say I LOVE the North Dallas Tollway, but it is kind of dumb to have to pay for a road, that your tax dollars go to repair. I will be a little surprised if they make part of I35 a tollroad.

[H-towngreen]

Lake Lewisville Bride To Become A Toll Road

I for one will not pay to ride the bride. I have never paid to get on the bride and I will not do it now. When it comes to riding the bride I always do it for free.

[FirefightnRick]

Lake Lewisville Bride To Become A Toll Road

I for one will not pay to ride the bride. I have never paid to get on the bride and I will not do it now. When it comes to riding the bride I always do it for free.

For free my ass? Your paying for it alright. You may not know it, but you ARE paying for it.

Rick

[JesseMartin]

If I was back...I'd sure as hell pay a buck or two to avoid that traffic. It pays for itself as you save on the expensive gas you'd otherwise waste in stop-and-go traffic.

How much is gas back home anyway? It's down to about 3.60 in Phoenix.

[Guest JohnDenver]

I moved away from Dallas this summer... All told, between my wife and I in our daily commutes would spend ~$230 a month on tolls. YES. $230 or more.

I can't tell you how good it feels to not be nickle and dime(d) on my drive now. It really adds up.

[JesseMartin]

Since moving to Phoenix, I think I've used 4 tanks of gas in 4 months. I'm right there with ya...MAYBE 200 bucks or so in 4 months, with these prices? Actually that's the only reason I was able to replace all of our tires and get both of our cars fixed. So the $1200 in repairs definitely exceeded the gas costs. Regadless...keeping the mileage low definitely saves money and would help in the demand issue if more people would do it.

I've only driven on toll roads a few times and it's only been a couple bucks each time...so if you were to spend that much, you guys must drive a lot.

[Guest JohnDenver]

It was nearly unavoidable.. our house was next to 190, the Tollway and 121 Tollway. My work was right off 190 in Plano. Her work was off the Tollway in Oak Cliff. We both had to get on toll roads every day of the week for 5 years.

Taking side streets just took too long in rush hour.

[CorinthEagle]

I make this drive every day. The problem isn't with the bridge, it's the half arse job they didn't complete at the 407 interchange going south and the fact you go from 3 lanes to 2 going north that causes the backup.

[meangreendork]

I make this drive every day. The problem isn't with the bridge, it's the half arse job they didn't complete at the 407 interchange going south and the fact you go from 3 lanes to 2 going north that causes the backup.

That's EXACTLY the problem. It doesn't look like they've gone back to fix 407 for about the last 2 years. Sure, it's nice that they made 35E three lanes as you get into Corinth/Hickory Creek, but there's still that inexplicable slow down around 407.

[UNTflyer]

The traffic problem isn't really with the bridge, it is that 3 lane-down-to-2 lane backup. Add to that the crazy short runway exit and entrance ramps in Denton. When I get onto I-35 in Denton I'm doing about 25 and have to floor it to keep from getting hit by the buttheads who refuse to let you in.

[e-bone ver2.awesome]

The traffic problem isn't really with the bridge, it is that 3 lane-down-to-2 lane backup. Add to that the crazy short runway exit and entrance ramps in Denton. When I get onto I-35 in Denton I'm doing about 25 and have to floor it to keep from getting hit by the buttheads who refuse to let you in.

You might want to go a little faster than 25 as you're getting on the highway if you want to avoid getting run over.

[meangreendork]

You might want to go a little faster than 25 as you're getting on the highway if you want to avoid getting run over.

They're not on-ramps so much as they are small driveways. Go 45, that seems to be what you gotta hit in order to not cause a pileup behind you.

However, I DO NOT want that bridge to be a toll road as I'm basically stuck paying a toll no matter what, when the money I pay in taxes is supposed to go towards repairing and improving highways anyways.

Besides an expansion to 4 lanes each way is totally pointless because as soon as you clear the bridge and the toll lanes YOU'LL STILL RUN INTO THE SAME BACK-UP JUST SOUTH OF DENTON ON THAT 2-LANE STRIP ANYWAYS.

Edited August 20, 2008 by meangreendork

[KingDL1]

Lake Lewisville Bride To Become A Toll Road

I for one will not pay to ride the bride. I have never paid to get on the bride and I will not do it now. When it comes to riding the bride I always do it for free.

I can't believe anyone would pay to get on the bride, especially if it is the bride you usually ride. I do however look forward to some good bride riding.

[Green P1]

I'm confused, how do you have sex with a lake?

[Eagle1855]

I'm confused, how do you have sex with a lake?

yeah it does seem like a hot dog/hallway exercise in futility...

[JesseMartin]

I'm confused, how do you have sex with a lake?

You'd be surprised at what's possible...

[THOR]

I'm confused, how do you have sex with a lake?

it's all about the watersports...

[Quoner]

it's all about the watersports...

Motor boat?

[Green Mean]

I for one do not have a problem paying tolls but if it is going to take me the same amount of time to get somewhere versus not having a toll then I do not want to see an expensive toll. The reality is that within the next 20 years I can all all of the highways in this area being toll roads because the number of people moving into this metropolitan area. Its been about 10 years but when I went to Chicago, I remember that pretty much every highway we took, there was a toll to be paid. Afcourse I can do without it but the reality is that ultimately I think all the highways here will probably end up being toll roads at some point. As far as the toll on the 35 bridge, I am all for that but they need to extend the highway to 3-4 lanes each way all the way up to atleast Gainesville in my opinion. Then I think traffic would be greatly alleviated on the highway. Also they need to have more roads and routes to go up to the Denton area. When I was commuting to UNT that was the biggest whip because I lived in Plano so my option was either 35 or Preston to 380. 380 was a great road and you always knew there wouldnt be any delays or anything so that was the best route. But if there was some issue on 35 then I had no other way to get to class because any minor problem would delay me atleast 30-45 minutes so at that point there was not any point going to class. Anyways I guess what I am trying to say is that traffic in a big city is a really big kick in the groin.

[UNTflyer]

Motor boat?

The little man in the boat?

[meangreendork]

....either 35 or Preston to 380. 380 was a great road and you always knew there wouldnt be any delays or anything so that was the best route.

That's still basically all there is in terms of options to get from Dallas to Denton, except now you can run 75 to 380. But generally speaking there's only 4 ways in to Denton from the south:

35W, 377, 75->380, Preston->380, 35E.

For the most part, if something happens on 35E, you're STILL in a heap of trouble coming in from Dallas. I think we can solve a lot of this with a comprehensive mass transit system. I don't think we need to have the entire DFW zone running on toll roads when we're all paying taxes to maintain and improve the roads infrastructure.

[UNTflyer]

DART is already working on its green-line, which runs from downtown Dallas to Carrollton. DCTA is working to build the companion line from Carrollton to downtown Denton. At a cost of $320 million, the length of DCTA's portion is 21 miles, just less than half of the 50-mile regional line. Eighty percent of funding for construction and operation comes from regional toll revenues such as State Highway 121. The remaining 20 percent comes from sales tax revenues in Lewisville, Highland Village, and Denton. The project's "ambitious" target completion date is December 2010, Kovatch said.

DCTA also is negotiating with DART to allow trains to travel non-stop from Denton to Dallas, rather than stopping over in Carrollton to transfer. This would require compatible cars and lines, and is an important service for the residents of Denton County.

[PHSCoach]

The bridge that will be a toll is the new route for FM 2934 coming across the lake to join 35E about six miles north of the current 35E bridge

[Green P1]

The bridge that will be a toll is the new route for FM 2934 coming across the lake to join 35E about six miles north of the current 35E bridge

Thats the one I'll be banging.