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More Than Just a Facelift for the DNT Gateway to Downtown Dallas "We are replacing the pavement from Lemmon Avenue to Maple Avenue, widening the bridge at Wycliff, replacing the bridge at Cedar Springs."
That’s not to mention the separate but simultaneous project nearby to widen and straighten Oak Lawn Avenue, which involves replacing the DNT bridge over that roadway. The NTTA is fully funding the tollway project and it is partially funding the Oak Lawn Avenue improvements in partnership with Dallas County, the City of Dallas, TxDOT and the federal Surface Transportation Program-Metropolitan Mobility, which is administered by the Regional Transportation Commission and the North Central Texas Council of Governments.
The NTTA has staged this construction work so that two lanes of the DNT are available for our customers. Moveable traffic barriers similar to those on some HOV lanes will make this possible. Several additional signs are in place to indicate the typical 40 mph speed limit through the toll plaza area for the safety not only of construction workers but also of customers encountering the difficult merge of southbound cash and TollTag lanes.
Cost of the DNT project is $34 million and cost of the Oak Lawn project is $16 million.
"Our customers’ courtesy and patience will be rewarded by a minimum of delay through that area, even at times when multiple lanes are closed," said Allan Rutter, executive director of the NTTA. He said project managers have assured the NTTA that motorists will have up to seven days’ notice of temporary lane closures and up to three weeks’ notice of tollway closures, which will occur on Saturday or Sunday nights for 12-hour periods while contractors’ crews perform heavy demolition of old bridge components.
Perhaps the most noticeable change on the DNT will take place about two years from now, right after the work is done on pavement and bridges: The toll plaza at Wycliff will have an exciting new look. Smaller toll plazas on the ramps at Mockingbird Lane, Northwest Highway and Royal Lane will be replaced as well.
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