A look at how transportation is changing in Fort Worth

In June 2023, the most recent stretch of tolled express lanes opened in North Texas. Almost seven miles of "TEXpress" lanes opened along Interstate 35W from Highway 287 to Alliance Airport in North Fort Worth.

"HIghways don't cure everything, but when you plan them right, when you build them right, when you operate them right with a mission, they're going to be what you want them to be," says NTE Mobility Partners' Robert Hinkle. "That's exactly what 35 is now."

Alliance Airport says the addition of TEXpress lanes has allowed for more efficient delivery of cargo that might land at the airport. Trucks can now use TEXpress lanes to reach Downtown Fort Worth or head east on Loop 820 and Highway 183 to reach Dallas.

"Their data shows they're getting about 5,000 trucks a day out of that inland port onto I-35," Hinkle says. "It's already creating economic advantages. They don't have trucks sitting at the inland port for three and four hours at a time idling and spewing emissions."

NTE Mobility Partners started construction in 2020. The company paid the $910 million cost in exchange for the ability to collect tolls in managed lanes. The tolls increase during periods of higher demand to maintain an average speed of at least 50 miles an hour.

The company opened the region's first set of TEXpress lanes in October 2014.

"I can't believe it's been ten years, but it actually has," Hinkle says.

The first stretch ran along North Loop 820 from I-35W to Highway 183 and then along 183 through the Mid-Cities to a spot just west of DFW Airport.

Since then, the company has extended lanes along 35W from 820 to Downtown Fort Worth and along LBJ Freeway in Dallas County.

TxDOT manages express lanes on 183 from DFW Airport to I-35E in Dallas County, along I-30 in Dallas County, Highway 114 and Loop 12.

Hinkle says the consortium that makes up NTE Mobility Partners and LBJ Infrastructure group has worked with TxDOT and NTTA to expand the network so people driving from Fort Worth to Dallas or different parts of the Metroplex can have a transit time that is easier to plan.

"You can actually do that now," Hinkle says. "It's a series of roads that all have been connected on purpose to make that drive easier."

Since the first managed lanes opened in 2014, Hinkle says they have had the ability to observe traffic trends. He says they do not track identifiable information for individuals, but they will see how people use the managed lanes.

"We can see the traffic movement," he says. "Since the managed lanes opened, people have gotten smarter about how they travel."

Hinkle says few cars register on the managed lanes daily as part of a regular commute, but drivers might use them if they are in a hurry to reach DFW Airport or a meeting.

Some contractors might use TEXpress lanes because, with a faster commute time, they might be able to reach another job before the end of the day.

Delivery companies may allow truck drivers to use the lanes because a toll might be cheaper than paying an additional hour of labor.

"The business folks, I think that's where the most rapid growth has come. Your service people, your HVAC, your FedEx or UPS, those folks moving off and on the highways just trying to get from one part of town to another, they've realized, 'I can use that managed lane. It might cost me six dollars. It might cost me $11, but chances are I can get in some business or save some overtime where it might advantage me six or seven hundred dollars,'" Hinkle says. "So it makes that 11, 12 or 13 a little more palatable."

The parent company, Cintra, is also part of a dynamic tolling project along Interstate 66 near Washington DC.

Managed lanes have also been added to parts of Interstate 95 around Miami, Florida.

Hinkle says projects like this can allow states to improve their infrastructure without increasing tax burden. He says companies like Cintra work with others including Hillwood, which operates a "mobility innovation zone" at Alliance, to plan the next generations of infrastructure.

"I tell my guys all the time we have been part of the solution all along, ever since we opened our corridors," Hinkle says. "Innovation is coming, flying taxis, driverless trucks, driverless cars, all kinds of innovation is coming. Right now, we are providing the infrastructure for all of those elements to move forward."

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