The Honorable Craig Estes

The Honorable Ken Paxton

The Honorable Jodie Laubenberg
The Honorable Jeff Leach
The Honorable Scott Sanford
The Honorable Van Taylor
Dear Elected Officials:
July 24, 2014
The Honorable Scott Turner
The Honorable Chris Hill
The Honorable Mark Reid
The Honorable Duncan Webb
The Honorable Cheryl Williams
The Honorable Keith Self
In reference to your letter dated July 9, 2014 expressing your views on the proposed US
Highway 75 (US 75) Express/High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane implementation project.
We appreciate your concerns and interest in this important issue.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is developing this project as part of a
region-wide effort to provide toll managed or express/HOV lanes on our most congested
corridors, offering greater travel time reliability and improved air quality. This region-wide plan
was developed through an extensive public involvement process led by the region's
metropolitan planning organization, the North Central Texas Council of Governments'
(NCTCOG) Regional Transportation Council.
The US 75 Express/HOV lane implementation project is intended to increase the efficiency of
the existing HOV lane by using its excess capacity at a minimal construction cost, and to
integrate it more seamlessly with the LBJ Freeway Toll Managed Lanes currently under
construction west of US 75. This would be accomplished by offering Single-Occupant Vehicles
(SOVs) the option to use the HOV lanes for a toll. The project is consistent with the NCTCOG
Regional Transportation Council's Mobility 2035 - 2013 Update: The Metropolitan
Transportation Plan for North Central Texas. It is important to note that all stakeholders
previously reached agreement during the development of this project and that this project does
not involve tolling the existing general purpose lanes.
Offering SOVs the option to use the HOV lane for a toll will allow more effective management
of traffic on the Express/HOV lane, and will provide a more reliable trip while continuing to
allow HOVs to travel these lanes at no cost. In addition, appropriate space has been provided
in the design phase of the lanes to safely enforce the operation of the Express/HOV lanes.
Converting the existing HOV lane into a general purpose lane as you suggested would require
adding inside shoulders to the freeway and significantly widening the freeway along the
corridor. In addition to affecting regional conformity with federal air quality requirements and
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increasing overall of the project, this of improvement would require
extensive reconstruction of bridges, ramps and interchanges, which is currently being
evaluated by the more comprehensive US 75 corridor study.
We welcome the opportunity to discuss this project directly with you at your convenience, the
NCTCOG plans to solicit more input from other stakeholders and the public in the near future,
and will hold interactive workshops on the Express/HOV lanes and conduct a public hearing on
the US 75 Express/HOV lane project this Fall to give the public additional opportunities to
provide comments and express concerns about the project.
cc: Texas Transportation Commission
North Central Texas Council of Governments Regional Transportation Council
John A Barton, P.E., Deputy Executive Director, TxDOT
William "Bill" L Hale, P.E., Dallas District Engineer, TxDOT
Stephen Endres, P.E., Dallas District Advanced Project Development Office, TxDOT