Route description

Central Expressway at Haskell Avenue

Central Expressway at Fitzhugh Avenue

The North Central Expressway extends from Woodall Rogers freeway to County Line Road in Van Alstyne. For its entirety, the highway contains at least six frontage road lanes alongside the main lanes.

The road has at least eight continuous general-purpose lanes between Downtown Dallas and SH 121 north of McKinney, except for a six-lane segment where it passes under Interstate 635 (two additional lanes are present but are only entrance ramps/exit ramps for Forest Lane and Midpark Road). A 16-mile bi-directional HOV system, opened in 2007, extends from Interstate 635 to McDermott Road in Allen. The expressway's junction with Interstate 635 is a five-level stack interchange known as the High Five Interchange, the tallest in the world. For the next six miles (9.7 km) north of downtown Dallas, the freeway lies more than 30 feet (9.1 m) below adjacent and partially cantilevered frontage roads. This 14-lane segment is one of the busiest highways in the nation, averaging approximately 350,000 AADT in 2013.^[2]

The North Central Expressway is near high-income neighborhoods and enclave cities such as Highland Park and University Park. The freeway is also adjacent to popular districts including Uptown, Cityplace, Lower Greenville, NorthPark Center, and the Telecom Corridor. Near the intersection of Central Expressway and Mockingbird Lane is Southern Methodist University, and Mockingbird Station. In 2015 a small stretch between Knox-Henderson and Northwest Highway was re-designated as the George W. Bush Expressway.^[3]

The Dallas Area Rapid Transit light rail system has a tunnel underneath the North Central Expressway between downtown Dallas and Mockingbird Station.

Central Expressway near Southern Methodist University and Mockingbird Lane

The freeway's architecturally distinctive design distinguishes it as one of the nation's most attractive urban freeways including 400,000 trees (bald cypress, yucca and honeysuckle), making it one of the most heavily landscaped freeways in Texas. Every structure and element along the highway right-of-way was given aesthetic attention during the design phase. Support columns for overpasses and bridges have been designed to be as visually appealing as possible. The beige concrete columns which form the support structure for the retaining walls contrast with the brown, textured infill panels of the walls to create a multicolored and articulated edge to the freeway. Two million square feet of these walls along the nine-mile-long (14 km) project distinguishes the freeway.^[4]

South of US 75's terminus, North Central Expressway briefly continues south in the median of I-345, then becomes a surface street through the eastern side of downtown Dallas. The surface street section south of Pacific Avenue was renamed for César Chávez in April, 2010. South of Cesar Chavez Blvd, State Highway 310 continues to carry the South Central Expressway name all the way to I-20 and I-45.^[5]

History

Central Expressway near NorthPark Center

The Central project was first proposed by Dallas City Planner George E. Kessler in 1911, who suggested that the city buy the right of way of the Houston and Texas Central Railway (H&TC) to remove the railway tracks and construct a Central Boulevard (later renamed the Central Expressway project) in their place. The Central project became a real project in the 1920s (with first mention in The Dallas Morning News in December 1924), but resistance from the Southern Pacific railroad company proved to be a serious obstacle that delayed the project for decades. Southern Pacific opposed the use of their railroad's right of way to construct Central Expressway, and it was this opposition and lobbying of political forces that caused the significant delays in the construction to the early 1950s.^[6]

Parts of North Central Expressway were opened in 1950. The route from Downtown to Mockingbird Lane was fully functional by the end of 1952, and the whole route to Campbell Road in Richardson was opened for traffic in August 1956. By the time Central Expressway opened for traffic, North Dallas and Richardson had already expanded beyond expectations, and the new highway was already hopelessly inadequate by the 1960s. The Expressway did not reach the city of Anna and the northern Collin County line until late 1969 or early 1970.

Reconstruction

Central Expressway heading southbound, towards Downtown Dallas

Prior to reconstruction, the North Central Expressway was considered to be one of the most poorly designed freeways in the nation.^[7][8] Though initially an engineering marvel as Dallas's first freeway when it opened to traffic in 1950, the explosive growth that soon hit North Dallas and the nearby suburbs quickly overwhelmed its design and capacity. By the 1980s, the four-lane freeway had acquired a reputation for severe rush-hour traffic jams.

In the early 1980s, the Texas Department of Transportation floated plans to build an elevated structure above the existing freeway. After considerable study and debate, elevated structures were eliminated. Construction started in 1992 and was finally completed in November 1999. Total reconstruction cost was around $600 million.

Freedman's Cemetery

During Central Expressway's construction in the 1940s, the southern end of the road was routed through a historic African-American neighborhood, displacing 1,500 black residents. When preparations began for the 1990s expansion of the route, it was discovered that a quarter of the 4-acre (16,000 m²) Freedman's Cemetery, with graves dating back to Emancipation, had been paved over. Archeological excavations uncovered the remains of over 1100 men, women, and children under existing and proposed roadways. After their reburial, the site was turned into a memorial to the working-class black residents of the area, which, after the expressways were built, became the upscale Uptown Dallas neighborhood.^[9]

Route description

The road meets Interstate 30 at a three-level interchange and continues south as a surface road down to I-45. This section was renamed in honor of César Chávez in April, 2010.^[10] Upon crossing under I-45, it becomes State Highway 310 and is signed both as South Central Expressway and S.M. Wright Freeway (named for a local minister). After a short distance as a freeway, the road becomes at-grade again. After an interchange with US 175, the road returns to freeway standards for a while. the S.M. Wright Freeway name ends at Loop 12, past the end of freeway standards. The South Central Expressway continues past a partial interchange with Interstate 20 to end at a merge with I-45 north of Hutchins.

History

The US-175 designation has since been moved from the South Central/S.M. Wright and onto a newer alignment straight to I-45. The new section opened in 2020. The former US-175 alignment is now part of SH-310. Meanwhile, TxDOT is redesigning the portion of the South Central/S.M. Wright between I-45 and US 175's former east turn into a surface-street boulevard, and has held meetings with local residents about the project.^[11][12][13] The plan to convert the freeway into a tree-lined boulevard moved forward in 2018 after Dallas City Council approved the plan to accept maintenance responsibilities for the roadway once construction is completed.^[14]