Postby northsouth » 02 Aug 2018 19:03
A similar situation has more recently occurred over in Fort Worth with the Chisholm Trail Parkway/I-20/SH183 interchange. According to the thread over on the Fort Worth forum, most of the direct connectors were planned to be built later, so only two pairs have been built, but bases were built for another one anyway. I guess money ran short for it.
As for the 161 upgrade situation, the issue is mainly one of history. The PGBT was originally planned as a freeway. TXDOT was the builder, so it was designated as a state highway. Access roads were built first, with main lanes to come later. But, except for the stretch of 161 from 183 to Belt Line, money became the issue. NTTA stepped in to take over the project and built the main lanes. Thus, we have the situation where the access roads are state highways but the main lanes aren't. Then there's the odd section from 183 south to just north of I-30: it was decided to accelerate construction on this section in advance of the Super Bowl in Arlington in 2011, so TXDOT joined the project, hence adding state highway designation. So the section is now signed as Toll SH161, using the same type of signage as tolled state highways outside North Texas.
But anyways, a few years ago the state legislature passed a law forbidding the conversion of existing freeways into tollways. So even if NTTA gets full control of the freeway section (I think they already do the maintenance), they're stuck with a section they can't put tolls on to help fund its own maintenance/expansion. The compromise in the mean time has been the expansion of the inside shoulders into full lanes, but for reasons beyond my understanding they're only "open" during rush hour. There's no barrier separating them, just a series of electronic signs above them that display open or closed and a solid line of paint. Nothing to keep people from driving on them outside rush hours other than asking them not to. If they've gone ahead and built the lanes, why not just make them full lanes? Were they built to lower construction standards and they don't want them to wear out quickly? That can't be legal, and is at least as stupid as the current situation. Was the funding designated for express lanes but they needed a work-around to expand the highway in any way possible? It's just completely asinine.