The Horseshoe Project was a $798 million highway project that upgraded the congested Mix Master interchange in
Downtown Dallas
Downtown Dallas is the central business district (CBD) of Dallas, Texas, United States, located in the geographic center of the city. It is the second-largest business district in the state of Texas. The area termed "Downtown" has traditionally ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, connecting
Interstate 35E (I-35E) and
Interstate 30
Interstate 30 (I-30) is a Interstate Highway in the southern states of Texas and Arkansas in the United States. I-30 travels from I-20 west of Fort Worth, Texas, northeast via Dallas, and Texarkana, Texas, to I-40 in North Little Rock, ...
(I-30). Construction began during the spring of 2013 and ended in 2017. The contractor was Pegasus Link Constructors, a partnership between
Balfour Beatty Infrastructure and
Fluor Enterprises. The project, which used the
design-build project delivery system, included construction of the
Margaret McDermott Bridge
The Margaret McDermott Bridge is a conventional concrete pier-and-beam freeway bridge with cable-stayed bike lines over the Trinity River in Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the lar ...
partially designed by Spanish civil engineer and architect
Santiago Calatrava
Santiago Calatrava Valls (born 28 July 1951) is a Spanish architect, structural engineer, sculptor and painter, particularly known for his bridges supported by single leaning pylons, and his railway stations, stadiums, and museums, whose scul ...
.
Overview
In its previous state, the Mix Master was among the 17 most congested roadways in Texas, seeing more than 460,000 vehicles in a week. The project aimed to replace the bridges of I-30 and I-35E that cross the
Trinity River, which were built in the 1930s and 1950s. With the completion of the project, the two highways now feature a combined 23 lanes, up from 16 lanes in the original interchange. The project "included the construction of more than 73 lane miles of new roadway, 37 conventional bridges and more than 60 retaining walls."
To fund the project, $500 million came from the federal government, and the remaining $298 million came from the state and local governments.
The Mix Master
The original Mix Master was constructed between 1958 and 1962 and never saw significant change after its initial completion. Minor improvements included converting the shoulders to travel lanes and elevating the HOV Lane for I-35E over the interchange to Houston Street and Jefferson Boulevard. At the time of construction, most freeway traffic in the area went ''into'' Downtown, whereas today most bypasses it. The interchange was designed accordingly, with incomplete access and on-ramps in close proximity to off-ramps, resulting in significant weaving in and out of traffic.
Layout
The Mix Master is essentially a highly modified
stack interchange
A directional interchange, colloquially known as a stack interchange, is a type of grade-separated junction between two controlled-access highways that allows for free-flowing movement to and from all directions of traffic. These interchanges ...
. Before the Horseshoe Project, there was no direct access from eastbound I-30 to southbound I-35E and from northbound I-35E to westbound I-30. Due to this problem, many drivers used Riverfront Boulevard. The interchange also previously included several left-hand exits and low visibility points that the Horseshoe Project eliminated.
City streets in the area include Riverfront Boulevard, Jefferson Boulevard, Houston Street, Cadiz Street and Canton Street.
Awards
The project has won several engineering awards, including the Design-Build Institute of America's 2017 National Award of Merit in Transportation, the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Texas's 2018 Engineer Excellence Award gold medal for transportation, and the 2018 ACEC National Engineering Excellence Honor Award.
See also
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References
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Road interchanges in the United States
Interstate 30
Interstate 35
Transportation in Dallas
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