History
The Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike was a 30-mile (48 km) toll highway in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. It operated between 1957 and 1977, afterward becoming a nondescript part of I-30. The road, three lanes in each direction but later widened, is the only direct connection between downtown Fort Worth and downtown Dallas, Texas. In October 2001, the former turnpike became known as the Tom Landry Highway, named after the late Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry.
The proposed expressway was studied as early as 1944, but was turned down by the state engineer due to the expense. However in 1953, the state legislature created the Texas Turnpike Authority, which in 1955 raised $58.5 million ($427 million in 2005 dollars) to build the project. Construction started later that year. On August 27, 1957 the highway was open to traffic, but the official opening came a week later on September 5. The turnpike's presence stimulated growth in Arlington and Grand Prairie and facilitated construction of Six Flags Over Texas. On December 31, 1977, the bonds were paid off and the freeway was handed over to the state Department of Transportation, toll collection ceased, and the tollbooths were removed during the following week.
It served as Interstate 20 between Dallas and Fort Worth until the current I-20 route to the south was opened in 1971. Afterwards, I-30 was extended from its end at the "Dallas Mixmaster" interchange with Interstate 35E (also the east end of the turnpike) to follow the turnpike, and the former I-20 in downtown Fort Worth, west to modern-day I-20.
The existing U.S. 67 route was already in heavy use in the early 1950s, at which point it was twinned from just east of Dallas to Rockwall and also near Greenville. The DFW Turnpike linking Fort Worth to Dallas was completed by 1957, becoming the first segment of Interstate 30. The twinned U.S. 67 routes were upgraded to Interstate standards beginning in 1961, forming the R.L. Thornton Freeway. By the mid 1960s much of Interstate 30 was under construction. The majority of the route was completed by 1965, but a 40-mile (64 km) stretch through marshland between Mount Pleasant, Texas and New Boston, Texas remained unfinished. This remaining segment was finally built and opened to traffic in 1971, completing Interstate 30.
Read more about this topic: Interstate 30
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