The North Texas Tollway Authority held a public information meeting Jan. 27 at Parr Library to provide an update on widening projects along the President George Bush Turnpike and the Dallas North Tollway that began last summer.

The NTTA is adding a fourth lane in each direction along the PGBT from US 75 to the DNT with an expected completion date of late 2016. Its project to add a fourth lane in each direction along the DNT from the Sam Rayburn Tollway to the PGBT is expected to be complete in early 2018.

Work will continue in phases along the DNT, with work being done at night so as not to disturb daytime traffic. The speed limit between the PGBT and the SRT has been lowered to 60 mph. NTTA officials are urging motorists to drive with caution.

Current work taking place includes continuing the retaining wall throughout the DNT corridor and preparing to lay asphalt for temporary entrance and exit ramps. The southbound exit ramp to Park Boulevard will switch to this temporary reconfiguration in the spring, according to the NTTA.

When complete, the PGBT connector will also be reconfigured to include two-lane dedicated entrance and exit ramps to and from the DNT. These braided ramps are expected to remedy some of the existing congestion that occurs from merging motorists, NTTA Construction Manager Enrique Guillen said.

For instance, a motorist trying to get onto the tollway traveling south from Park Boulevard will be able to use two dedicated lanes that will take them directly to southbound DNT without having to get around those motorists trying to get onto the PGBT from the tollway, he said.

"Currently we have both movements merging into one lane [and] everybody's trying to figure out where they want to go and then they finally separate," Guillen said. "We're going to separate them with concrete."

The project also includes the reconfiguration of several entrance and exit ramps from the Sam Rayburn Tollway to the President George Bush Turnpike. Exit and entrance ramps will be constructed at Windhaven Parkway, for example, in order to give exiting motorists more time to change lanes along the frontage roads in order to the next major intersection more safely, Guillen said. Similar construction is also expected to take place further south through Addison to I-635.

The NTTA also has plans for demolishing and rebuilding the bridge at Tennyson Parkway within the next 90 days in order to accommodate the DNT widening project. A new U-turn bridge is also being constructed on the Legacy Drive bridge, Guillen said.

For information about this project, visit www.progressntta.org. Residents may also email [email protected] or call 972-628-3134.