| OWNER
TxDOT Fort Worth
LOCATION Hurst, Bedford & Euless, Texas
DESIGN START/COMPLETED 2010/2014
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Managed/Express Lanes 40 Bridges 21 Highway Overpass Structures 4 Highway Underpass Structures 4 Direct Connectors 7 Major Crossing Streams Pedestrian Bridge 9 Braided Ramp Structures 9 Crossing Streets |
North Tarrant Express (NTE) 2W
| OTHON served as lead engineer for the NTE Segment 2W project, which was a 7.5-mile controlled-access urban freeway, connecting the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth through SH 183. Year 2030 traffic volumes for the high-speed lanes are forecast to exceed 280,000 vehicles per day. To handle traffic volume, the existing six-lane freeway was reconstructed to current design standards and augmented with four high-occupancy/managed lanes. The project passes through the cities of Hurst, Bedford and Euless where close coordination was required.
Many infrastructure elements once considered “standardized” by conventional freeway design means / methods were evaluated for construction cost impacts and long-term efficiency. One example included optimizing the design by eliminating more than three miles of 38-foot-wide elevated managed lane bridges over the major SH 121 / SH 183 interchange northbound direct connector and four overpasses. Using 3D alignment study, the team identified possible options and developed the final solution which included eliminating the three mile viaduct by constructing that portion of the project at grade. The total bridge deck area (which is much more costly to maintain) was reduced by 40% to 1.24 million square feet and provided tens of millions in capital cost savings.
Value engineering and innovation led to improved design with the ultimate, optimization of life cycle performance, improved aesthetics and cost savings. OTHON re-designed the schematics and brought the managed lanes from elevated level (bridges) to at-grade level within the proposed ROW in the original schematics. This saved $100M in construction costs while presenting an aesthetically pleasing corridor for the adjacent communities. The initial construction cost was $800M. The final construction cost was $700M.
AWARDS
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