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Collin County To Get $1.5 billion Road Project Funding
The Regional
Transportation Council has earmarked $1.5 billion to fund road projects
for Collin County, paid for out of State Highway 121 toll revenues from
the North Texas Tollway
Authority.
Along with the $235.6 million transportation
bond package that voters approved last November, the county’s streets
and highways will get a hefty financial boost to keep pace with the area’s
rapid growth after the RTC decided on Aug. 22 what Collin
County’s share of the up-front payment from NTTA would turn out to
be. The North Central
Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) posts a master
list of approved projects that will use Regional Tollway Revenues.
Street projects – much of which involved the county
matching funds with local towns and cities – can be tracked on our website
at Collin
County Projects. A separate list of Public
Works Projects also involve paving 50 miles of rock roads each year
for some 475 miles of rural county roads.
As for the Tollway itself, the main lanes of S.H.
121 are under construction from the Dallas North Tollway in Frisco to
U.S. 75 in McKinney & Fairview. The toll road starts at Business 121
in Coppell/Lewisville and runs northeasterly to just east of U.S. 75
in McKinney/Fairview. The 121 Tollway, as it’s now called, will stretch
25.9 miles through Collin, Dallas and Denton counties and is projected
to be completely finished in January 2012.
Updated progress reports on 121 Tollway can also be
found on the NTTA
website.
The RTC project list from Regional
Toll Revenues opens the way for large highway expansion programs here,
such as:
- Expanding U.S. 75 (Central Expressway) from four to eight lanes from Legacy Dr. in Plano to just north of Melissa;
- The S.H. 121 and U.S. 75 interchange in McKinney;
- Adding two lanes to S.H. 289 (Preston Ln.) from Frisco to Celina;
- Widening S.H. 121 in Melissa (U.S. 75 to F.M. 455 near Anna) by two lanes;
- Widening S.H. 205, just east of Wylie, from two to four lanes all the way to FM 6 in Lavon; and
- Building two lanes of the Collin County Outer Loop between U.S. 75 and S.H. 121 North.
A 9-page summary of projects drawn up by NCTCOG – and
tied to the 121 Tollway payments -- is available
here.
Collin County’s RTC share of toll funds will also pay
for environmental assessments of the Collin
County Outer Loop Project and a study to see how rail service could
be brought to Fairview, Allen, and McKinney and other areas in the north
half of the county.
As part of a its winning bid to finish building and
operate the 121 Tollway, the NTTA is funneling $3.2 billion through the
RTC to fund road projects in Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties.
Local officials who sit on the 45-member RTC board include
Precinct 3 County Commissioner Joe
Jaynes, McKinney Mayor Bill
Whitfield, and Plano City Councilman Lee
Dunlap.
The NTTA also posts updates on the expansion of Dallas
North Tollway expansion from S.H. 380 north to Grayson County.
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