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When School and Construction Zones Cross Paths With the new school year getting underway, the NTTA is working closely with county, city and school district officials to ensure that drivers can travel through and around NTTA construction zones safely and efficiently. That’s been especially true over the past year since construction got into full swing on the President George Bush Turnpike Eastern Extension through Garland, Rowlett and Sachse.
In Rowlett, the Eastern Extension will replace Kirby Road, which runs along the western boundary of the Rowlett High School campus. The turnpike will also cross Miles Road in Sachse, a major arterial route to Sachse High School, Hudson Middle School and Sewell Elementary School.
Members of the corridor and construction management teams met with Sachse High School administrators in July – as they did with Rowlett High School officials earlier this year – to talk about the potential impact of construction on local traffic. A major topic of discussion was the school’s activity calendar, which includes high-traffic events at the school and results in additional bus transportation to and from the school several days a week. Everyone agreed that the goal is to get students to school safely and on time.
Miles Road will pass over the future turnpike and crews have already begun constructing the bridge. Two-way traffic has been moved to one side of the bridge while work is done on the other, and that will be reversed later this year. Drivers will use the completed bridge by early this spring.
When the corridor teams met with Rowlett High School administrators last spring, many more construction issues were on the table. Kirby Road is not only being replaced by the turnpike, but the tollway also will be about 30 feet below grade as it passes in front of the school. This necessitated a change in the traffic pattern around the school, to which parents, students and staff quickly adapted, and the addition of a traffic signal at Main Street and Kirby Road. Soon drivers will be detoured off the Kirby Road main lanes between Miller Heights Road and Main Street onto temporary pavement to allow the start of pavement removal and excavation. The school’s south driveway will remain open as long as construction activities allow, but its use will be limited according to the school’s traffic plan (see the school Web site www.garlandisdschools.net/rhs). Construction fences and barriers will be utilized as needed.
As construction progresses, communication between the corridor teams and school officials is essential to keep traffic flowing safely and smoothly. When the 2009-2010 school year begins, the NTTA will resume its regular podcasts on the Rowlett High School Web site and will provide administrators and students with regular construction and traffic change notices.
Another method the NTTA is using to communicate this type of information to the public is its speakers bureau, which in the past has scheduled engagements with the Sachse and Rowlett Chambers of Commerce, among others. To schedule a speaker, contact Karin Anderson, 214-224-3088 or kanderson@ntta.org.
Anyone interested in the project may find out more about the Eastern Extension and register to receive e-mail updates on the NTTA Web site at www.NTTA.org/AboutUs/Projects.
The Eastern Extension is a portion of the outer loop around Dallas and its suburbs that connects Interstate Highway 30 to the existing President George Bush Turnpike. It is part of the Loop 9/State Highway 190 corridor first envisioned in the 1960s. Construction on the approximately 10-mile corridor began in October 2008, and the project is expected to open to traffic in the fourth quarter of 2011.
The NTTA is building Sections 28-31, and the Texas Department of Transportation is building Section 32, the bridge over Lake Ray Hubbard.
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