With cranes aligning Interstate 35 and construction crews busy at work, it’s obvious the Horseshoe Project is fully under way. This ambitious $798 million design-build roadway project, led by the Texas Department of Transportation, will transform interstate traffic through downtown Dallas while also improving the southern entrance into city. When completed in 2017, the Horseshoe Project will revitalize the I-30 and I-35 corridors through the city and replace the series of bridges that carry traffic across the Trinity River.
Two major factors have prompted the need for the upgrade: increased traffic on the highways around downtown Dallas and the deterioration of bridges over the Trinity River. Most of the major roads around Dallas’ central downtown area were constructed prior to the mid-1960s, and today this corridor can see more than 450,000 vehicles on a single weekday.
Pegasus Link Constructors LLC, a consortium comprised of Fluor Enterprises and Balfour Beatty, won the contract to construct the project. The work will involve an upgrade to the I-30 bridge, as well as upgrades to both the north and southbound sections of the I-35E bridges across the Trinity River. Five miles of highway and frontage road that curve around the central downtown area will be rebuilt to improve capacity.
The project was dubbed the “Horseshoe” due to its U-shaped configuration around the city’s central downtown, a section currently referred to as the “Mixmaster.” The horseshoe shape is also considered a symbol of good luck, with horseshoes being hung in homes and over doorways to protect and attract good fortune to residents. Although the southern commute into the city will be cumbersome for some time, hopefully the completed project will serve as the luck Dallas needs to grow south.
Terrence Maiden is executive vice president-development of Corinth Properties. Contact him at [email protected].
