Long-awaited US 75 overhaul required to sustain North Texas growth

US 75 has become the poster child for traffic congestion in fast-developing McKinney.

Designed more than 50 years ago as a two-lane arterial to connect suburban Collin County communities, US 75 has since become overwhelmed by the more than 120,000 daily drivers who use the road for commuting to work and accessing local businesses, according to city officials. With the addition of road construction projects—which have been ongoing since 2010—US 75 often resembles a parking lot during peak morning and evening commutes. The situation has created frustration among residents and commuters, and planning officials are scrambling to find viable solutions with limited funding.

The population of McKinney has exploded during the past 15 years with an increase of more than 100,000 residents, according to city officials. The effect of this growth is felt daily by drivers on US 75, where on average more than 186,000 hours per mile were spent in traffic last year, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.

Collin County became one of the fastest-growing counties in the state in the early 2000s when US 75 in McKinney saw little more than 70,000 drivers a day. By 2035, Collin County officials project a population of 1.3 million residents who will spend 415,198 hours annually per mile in traffic on US 75 in Collin County.

"I don't know that anybody is going to say that you can prepare for that type of growth," Collin County Judge Keith Self said. "We truly are experiencing phenomenal growth."

To accommodate this swell in traffic and population, the 5.8-mile stretch of US 75 through McKinney has been under major construction since 2010 to expand the roadway from two lanes to four lanes in each direction and expand frontage roads from two lanes to three lanes in each direction.

History

Aging infrastructure, safety problems and the inability to safely accommodate additional vehicles prompted the city, county, state and the North Central Texas Council of Governments—the area's metropolitan planning organization—to expand US 75 and its service roads, NCTCOG Director of Transportation Michael Morris said.

"US 75 was built with roadway design standards of 50 years ago where drivers were expected to travel at 50 mph," he said. "But [before construction] they were driving 70-75 mph. We are designing this roadway with today's design standards and for travel at 70 mph with better sight distance, increased spacing between on- and off-ramps, and increased safety."

Morris said the NCTCOG looked at the high accident rates on US 75 in McKinney and found it was reminiscent of SH 121 before its expansion and transition to the Sam Rayburn Tollway.

"Sam Raburn Tollway, when it was just SH 121, was a two-lane road that had the most fatality accidents in the state of Texas," he said. "Then we were able to develop the tollway, and have now a very successful roadway."

Funding

Self said he has been a major supporter of maintaining and improving roadway infrastructure within the county. He said he has spent years ensuring funding for local roadways remains intact and said most of the funding for the US 75 expansion comes from Regional Toll Revenue collected on the SRT.

The RTR program provides much-needed funding to advance transportation projects that might otherwise sit idle because of a lack of funding. The program started in 2007 after the Legislature passed Senate Bill 792, which redefined the way toll projects are funded throughout the state and created a way to measure the market value of a project.

Following the passing of SB 792, TxDOT, the North Texas Tollway Authority and NCTCOG developed the Sam Rayburn Tollway. In late 2007 the agencies announced an agreement to fund the $3.2 billion project, which allowed the NTTA to complete construction of the 26-mile-long SRT as well as operate and maintain the road for 52 years.

According to a TxDOT project fact sheet, the $3.2 billion upfront payment provided funding for the RTR program and allowed the advancement of 78 transportation projects worth $915 million in Collin County. Of that amount, 17 projects worth an estimated $375 million are spread along the US 75 corridor.

"These [funds] are toll dollars that our citizens are going to pay over the next 50 years by driving Sam Rayburn Tollway," Self said. "So these are technically local dollars funding this roadway."

There are no plans to toll US 75 in McKinney at this time, Self said.

The expansion on the portion of US 75 from Bloomdale Road to Telephone Road was paid for through Proposition 12—an approved distribution of $3 billion by the Texas Transportation Commission to address congested highways, rehabilitate bridges and improve connectivity between the state's metropolitan areas, which was also passed in 2007, according to TxDOT.

Preparing for future growth

McKinney Mayor Brian Loughmiller said the city has been focused on US 75 completion not only for traffic and safety reasons, but also for the commercial, retail and residential growth he believes will soon follow.

"When you look at cities you will always see that the biggest growth happens after the road construction is complete," Loughmiller said. "It happened in Allen, it happened when the [Dallas North Tollway] was completed in west Plano and you will see it here when US 75 is finished. Everyone in the city takes US 75 and all of your growth corridors run north and south, so we are anxious to see this completed."

New businesses will benefit the city of McKinney and the county by adding to their tax bases. However, county officials also must look at higher demands on transportation infrastructure and the challenges of providing it with future shortfalls in transportation funding projected.

"We will be right back in the same boat [regarding congestion on US 75] in about six to seven years," Self said.

According to a 2013 update to the NCTCOG's Mobility 2035 plan, the region will experience a $296.6 billion shortfall in transportation funding between 2014 and 2035. Rapid growth and the continued demand on infrastructure will be a challenge for the area, Self said.

"I tell people all the time that there aren't enough lines on the map," he said. "The highway structure has not changed in Collin County since the 1970s. We simply don't have enough lines on the map—forget funding them."