The Dallas Horseshoe Project

[Lindsay Kathleen McManus]

          The Horseshoe Project, a $798 million design-build roadway construction project seeking to improve traffic flow through the heart of downtown Dallas, was created and developed by the Texas Department of Transportation. The project had its groundbreaking ceremony on April 27, 2013, and was made eligible by legislation passed back in 2011, which gifted TxDOT with "additional tools in the form of 'design-build' authorization as well as additional Proposition 12 funding." The tools not only enabled the project funding gap to be closed, but also provided the opportunity to construct the project at least four years earlier than former project development methods would have have allowed. As a result, the project that began in late 2013 was able to be substantially completed this summer (June 2017).

          The Horseshoe Project was created as a response to help resolve congested roadway issues in Dallas as well as fix the rapidly deteriorating bridges that were built in the 1930s and 1950s that cross the Trinity River. Named the Horseshoe Project due to its U shape, construction developments included the expansion, repaving, and addition of many new bridges and roadways along Interstates 30 and 35E as well as the building of a new signature bridge, dubbed the Margaret McDermott Bridge, over Interstate 30. $500 million will be derived from the federal government, while the other $298 million will be received from the Texas state and local governing entities.

          Because I-30 and I-35 carry more than 460,000 vehicles each weekday, this area inevitably experiences heavy congestion. Ranked in the 20 most congested roadways in Texas, a particular improvement that will decrease this issue will be the widening of I-30 and I-35E to a grand total of 23 lanes. On the other hand, in regards to the bridge deterioration that has led to amplified maintenance and repair costs in recent years, upgrades and replacements to the previous bridges as well as the addition of the McDermott Bridge will not only boost safety levels, but also allow for improved traffic flow and access for pedestrians and bicycles in and around downtown Dallas, the floodway, and Oak Cliff.

          Construction for the Horseshoe Project is being managed by Pegasus Link Constructors (PLC), which encompasses two of the world’s biggest, most experienced design-build firms. Fluor Enterprises Inc. and Balfour Beatty Infrastructure have had a very successful 10-year partnership, which has resulted in three low-cost/high-value design-build projects having been implemented in Texas over the last eight years. In regards to progress, the I-35E and I-30 main lanes have been substantially completed, the eastbound I-30 and northbound I-35E direct connector Woodall Rodgers opened in June of this year, and construction on the Margaret McDermott Bridge on I-30 is in its final stages – both the EB and WB arches have been completed and workers have started placing the deck. All in all, in order to address the safety and congestion issues of this area, the push of local stakeholders to find solutions that were financially attainable was key in getting this job completed so that mobility, safety, and capacity all could be both increased and improved.

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