With the expectation that traffic on SH 121 near Grapevine Mills will nearly double by 2025, work began in March to widen about 1.7 miles of the roadway to relieve a years-long problem of bottlenecks in the area.

Work on the segment between Stars and Stripes Way and the Business SH 121 split is expected to be complete in 2017. Funds recently became available ahead of schedule—work was not expected to get underway until 2019.

The widening work is long overdue, said Christie Gotti, senior program manager with the North Central Texas Council of Governments, which helped organize the project and move it forward to this year.

"It was envisioned a long time ago," Gotti said. "It's basically been [partially] funded for quite a while. The first time we selected this project for funding was in 2004, but the project scope has changed over time."

This and several other unaddressed projects were originally part of the DFW Connector, which overhauled SH 114 and SH 121. The area that became SH 121 Segment 13 was delayed along with neighbor project FM 2499 when only $1.02 billion was available for the $1.6 billion Connector.

"[SH 121 Segment 13] was one we knew was going to create a bottleneck," Gotti said. "We were hoping that we could get [FM 2499 and SH 121] in with the DFW Connector so we wouldn't have the bottleneck that is there today. We just couldn't make it work."

Waiting game ends

Michelle Releford, Texas Department of Transportation spokeswoman, said the state received environmental clearance for the project in 2006. After that step, designing the plans, specifications and determining estimates for cost were the next steps—a typically yearlong or two-year-long process. Then finding funds was the challenge when it became clear Segment 13 would not be a part of the DFW Connector.

"As soon as it was shovel-ready, we sought funding," Releford said.

Releford said funds were initially dedicated for work to begin on the Segment 13 project in 2019 after being split off from the Connector. The need to address consistent congestion in the area helped push the allocation up considerably through an agreement with NCTCOG.

"Since the contract was awarded, we've been waiting for utilities to be relocated, and then we broke ground early this year, as soon as [utility relocation] was far enough along that we could start," Releford said. "The good news is that it got funded and is now underway."

Eighty percent of the $58.8 million Segment 13 project is supported by federal funds, and the other 20 percent is funded by the state.

Expanding to 10 lanes

The road work starts in the area near Stars and Stripes Way and ends at the Business SH 121 split to Lewisville.

In 2007 a $21.2 million reconstruction project on SH 121 began to separate the main lanes of the highway from the intersecting cross streets, taking out traffic lights that had created long bottlenecks.

It took two years to do that work, and NCTCOG and TxDOT officials knew at the time the project would not solve problems as traffic grew. The NCTCOG reported in its requests for federal aid in 2009 that the four-lane main lane setup would be "functionally obsolete" once the DFW Connector was complete, and that project was finished in 2013.

Once the current SH 121 work is done, the main section of the highway will have 10 main lanes, as well as improvements to expand the frontage roads to up to six lanes total. The expanded bridges will remain as they are configured now at Grapevine Mills Boulevard, Freeport Parkway and Denton Creek. Releford said state officials are confident the completed highway will meet the needs of the area for the future. Officials also expect current traffic congestion will not get much worse before it gets better because of plans to keep main lanes open as construction expands the road.

The work takes shape

Construction on Segment 13 broke ground not long after the main DFW Connector project was opened. Releford said the Segment 13 project is in the utility relocation and excavation phase, with workers putting in storm drains, culverts and other drainage features.

"This is really the groundwork that has to happen before we can start building on top of anything," Releford said. "That's going to be going on for a while. Then we'll get hot and heavy on reconstructing the northbound and southbound frontage."

Main lane reconstruction will follow, with TxDOT's plans calling for traffic to remain flowing as it currently is in the construction zone as new lanes are added to the northbound and southboundroadways.

Expected benefits

NCTCOG projected in their 2009 federal funding application that the project would boost the economy.

The application detailed expectations that the expansion project could have a net positive benefit on the local economy of $26.8 million annually and create 292 permanent jobs once complete.

Most of those permanent employees are expected to serve the nearby Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, but it is expected the improved corridor will also support new investment in Dallas-area private-sector production.

Grapevine City Manager Bruno Rumbelow said he sees future impacts from increased mobility that will touch lives throughout the area.

"In the short term [road work delays are] painful, but in the longer term, the fact that you do have mobility and people are able to come here, visit our restaurants, visit our downtown and go to our mall will lead to a better economic future for Grapevine," Rumbelow said.

He said long-term benefits should not be forgotten while drivers wait for projects to wrap up.

"What we believe will happen is that Grapevine and certainly the region will benefit from these types of projects," Rumbelow said.