Save the Date! Friday, April 18, 2014
The Texas Department of Transportation and the City of Garland, TX in conjunction with the US Department of Transportation invite you to join us Friday, April 18, 2014, at 10:00 AM as US Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx, comes to the City of Garland for a special press conference concerning the ongoing IH-635 East project, a key priority for the DFW Metroplex and the State of Texas.
To read the USDOT’s press release about the Secretary’s Bus Tour, please click here.
The Interstate 635 East project in Dallas County, from United States Highway 75 to IH-30, is one of the most critical projects in the Dallas-Fort Worth Region. Few projects will have a greater impact on the mobility of citizens and the movement of goods.
The IH-635 East Project (US 75 to IH-30) will be a complete reconstruction of the existing facilities with noted enhancements to the corridor including:
Continuous frontage roads from US 75 to IH-30
Enhanced access with strategically placed entrance and exit ramps
Aesthetic enhancements to the corridor
Continuous 2+2 managed lanes from US 75 to IH-30
Reconstruction and reconfiguration of the main lanes
Sound Walls
IH-635 East opened to the public in 1970, after the authorization from the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 created the Interstate Highway System. When originally constructed, the facility had limited access, including minimal frontage roads and short entrance and exit ramps.
Since the right of way on IH-635 was purchased using federal funds, the Federal Government has both the land rights and access rights to the facility. The impact for the City of Garland (and the IH-635 East Corridor) is that the City must be strategic in its planning for access to and from the facility and be cognizant of the administrative process by which new access points can be given.
The City of Garland is playing an essential role in the development of this corridor by creating a sharp focus with a coalition of stakeholders representing Dallas, Garland, and Mesquite along with the respective county, state, and federal officials. The press conference will be held at 1122 W. Centerville Rd. in Garland.
To Reserve your spot, contact Russell Schaffner at rschaffner@dean.net<mailto:rschaffner@dean.net> or Stephen Miller at smiller@dean.net<mailto:smiller@dean.net>. They can both be reach by phone at 214-750-0123.
As U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx leads an agency with more than 55,000 employees and a $70 billion budget that oversees air, maritime, and surface transportation. His primary goal is to ensure that America maintains the safest, most efficient transportation system in the world. Foxx joined the U.S. Department of Transportation after serving as the mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, from 2009 to 2013. During that time, he made efficient and innovative transportation investments the centerpiece of Charlotte’s job creation and economic recovery efforts. These investments included extending the LYNX light rail system, the largest capital project ever undertaken by the city, which will build new roads, bridges, transit as well as bicycle and pedestrian facilities; expanding Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, the sixth busiest in the world; working with North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue to accelerate the I-485 outer belt loop using a creative design-build-finance approach, the first major project of its kind in North Carolina; and starting the Charlotte Streetcar project. Prior to being elected mayor, Foxx served two terms on the Charlotte City Council as an At-Large Representative. As a Council Member, Foxx chaired the Transportation Committee, where he helped shepherd the largest transportation bond package in the city’s history, enabling Charlotte to take advantage of record low interest rates and favorable construction pricing to stretch city dollars beyond initial projections. Foxx also chaired the Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization. Foxx is an attorney and has spent much of his career in private practice. He also worked as a law clerk for the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, a trial attorney for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and staff counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary. Foxx received a law degree from New York University’s School of Law as a Root-Tilden Scholar, the University’s prestigious public service scholarship. He earned a bachelor’s degree in History from Davidson College.