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EspañolCENTRAL EXPRESSWAY (DALLAS)
Central Expressway at Lovers Lane
''NCX redirects here. For the transport protein, see Sodium-calcium exchanger.''
'Central Expressway' is a north-south highway in Dallas, Texas (USA) and surrounding areas.
North Central Expressway
The best-known section is the 'North Central Expressway', a name for a freeway section of U.S. Route 75 between downtown Dallas and McKinney, Texas. The southern terminus is at an intersection with "hidden" Interstate 345 (signed as Interstate 45) and Woodall Rodgers Expressway.
South of US 75's terminus, North Central Expressway briefly continues south in the median of I-345, then continues through the eastern side of downtown Dallas as a surface street.
The North Central Expressway is near high-income neighborhoods and enclave cities such as Highland Park and University Park. The freeway is also adjacent to popular districts including Uptown, Cityplace, NorthPark Center, and the Telecom Corridor. Near the intersection of Central Expressway and Mockingbird Lane is a prestigious private university, Southern Methodist University, and the popular Mockingbird Station project.
Reconstruction
North Central Expressway was once one of the most poorly designed freeways in the nation.[1][2] Though initially an engineering marvel as Dallas's first freeway when it opened to traffic in 1950, the explosive growth that soon hit north Dallas and the nearby suburbs quickly overwhelmed its design and capacity.
In the early 1980s, the TxDOT floated plans to build an elevated structure above the existing freeway. After considerable study and debate, elevated structures were eliminated. Construction started in 1992 and was finally completed in November 1999. Total reconstruction cost was around $600 million.
Current state
The facility has 8 continuous general-purpose lanes from downtown Dallas to Legacy Drive in Plano except for a six-lane segment where it passes under Interstate 635 (two additional lanes are present but are only entrance ramps/exit ramps for Forest Lane and Midpark Road). For the six miles north of downtown Dallas, the freeway sits over 30 feet below adjacent frontage roads.
Architecture
The freeway's architecturally distinctive design distinguishes it as one of the nation's most attractive urban freeways. Every structure and element along the highway right-of-way was given aesthetic attention during the design phase. Support columns for overpasses and bridges have been designed to be as visually appealing as possible. The beige concrete columns which form the support structure for the retaining walls contrast with the brown, textured infill panels of the walls to create a multicolored and articulated edge to the freeway. Two million square feet of these walls along the nine mile-long project distinguishes the freeway.
Freedman's Cemetery
Central Expressway's 1940s construction methods would come to represent inadequacies of both civil engineering and social engineering. The southern end of North Central Expressway passed through a historic African-American neighborhood, displacing 1,500 black residents. But the full scale of the injustice was not revealed until preparations began for the 1990s expansion of the route. The living weren't the only ones displaced; a quarter of the four-acre Freedman's Cemetery, with graves dating back to Emancipation, had been paved over. Archeological excavations uncovered the remains of over 1,100 men, women, and children under existing and proposed roadways. After their reburial, the site was turned into a memorial to the working-class black residents of the area, which after the expressways were built, became the upscale Uptown Dallas neighborhood.[3]
South Central Expressway
South of Main Street in downtown Dallas, Central Expressway becomes the 'South Central Expressway'. The road meets Interstate 30 at a three-level interchange and continues south as a surface road. Upon crossing Interstate 45, it becomes U.S. Route 175 and is signed both as South Central Expressway and 'SM Wright Freeway' (named for a local minister). Where US 175 turns off to the east, the road continues south as State Highway 310; the SM Wright Freeway name ends at Loop 12, past the end of freeway standards. The South Central Expressway continues past a partial interchange with Interstate 20 to end at a merge with I-45 north of Hutchins. This section through and south of downtown mainly serves local traffic. I-45 was built roughly parallel to it. However, the parallel section of I-45 north of the Trinity River is completely elevated, and is often difficult to traverse when ice storms hit Dallas (about once per year); thus, South Central often takes over some of the traffic during this time.
Exit list
South Central Expressway
| Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|
| Lamar Street | northbound exit and southbound entrance |
| Municipal Avenue; Lamar Street | northbound exit and entrance |
| Haven Street | southbound exit and entrance |
 | no southbound entrance |
| Hatcher Street | no northbound exit |
| Pine Street | |
| Metropolitan Avenue | |
| Pennsylvania Avenue | northbound exit and southbound entrance |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard | northbound exit only |
 | northbound exit and southbound entrance |
| Good-Latimer Expressway | northbound exit and southbound entrance |
At this point South Central Expressway becomes a surface road through Downtown Dallas.
North Central Expressway
North Central Expressway is the only highway in Texas to use a consecutive-numbering system as opposed to a mile marker system. The numbering system south of I-635 changed drastically when several exits were consolidated; north of I-635 the system remained the same. When U.S. 75 was rerouted west of Sherman and Denison, additional exits took the next available numbers.
North of McKinney, US 75 is not referred to as Central Expressway, giving way to other names such as Collins Freeway (Van Alsytne) and Sam Rayburn Freeway (Sherman).
| # | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old | |||
| Bryan Street; Good-Latimer Expressway | southbound exit and northbound entrance | ||
 | southbound exit and northbound entrance | ||
| 285 | Ross Avenue | southbound exit only | |
| 1A |  | southbound exit and northbound entrance | |
| 1 | (Hall Street) | ||
| 2 | (Lemmon Avenue) | ||
| 3 | 1B | Haskell Avenue; Blackburn Street; Fitzhugh Avenue; Lemmon Avenue | |
| 4 | (Fitzhugh Avenue) | ||
| 5 | 2 | Knox Street; Henderson Avenue; Monticello Avenue; Fitzhugh Avenue | |
| 6 | (Monticello Avenue) | ||
| 7 | (McCommas Boulevard) | ||
| 8 | 3 | Mockingbird Lane; University Boulevard; Monticello Avenue | |
| 9 | (Yale Boulevard) | ||
| 10 | (University Boulevard) | ||
| 11 | 4A | Lovers Lane; Southwestern Boulevard; University Boulevard | exit 4 southbound |
| 12 | (Southwestern Boulevard) | ||
| 13 | 4B | Caruth Haven Lane | southbound exit is combined with 5A |
| 14-15 | 5A |  | |
| 16 | 5B | Northpark Boulevard; Park Lane | |
| 17 | 6 | Walnut Hill Lane; Meadow Road | |
| 18 | (Meadow Road) | ||
| 19 | 7 | Royal Lane; Meadow Road | |
| 20A | 8A | Forest Lane | exit 20-20A southbound |
| 20B | 8B | Coit Road | northbound exit and southbound entrance |
| 20B | Frontage Road | northbound exit only | |
| 21 |  | ||
| 20A | Frontage Road | southbound exit and northbound entrance | |
| 22 | Midpark Road | ||
| 23 | Spring Valley Road | ||
| 24 | Belt Line Road; Main Street | ||
| 25 | Arapaho Road | ||
| 26 | Campbell Road | northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
| 27A | Galatyn Parkway; Renner Road; Campbell Road | exit 26 southbound | |
| 27 | Renner Road | southbound exit and northbound entrance | |
| 28A | Plano Parkway | ||
| 28B | President George Bush Turnpike | ||
| 29 | 15th Street (former Farm to Market Road 544) | northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
| 29A | Park Boulevard; 15th Street | ||
| 30 | Parker Road | ||
| 30A | Frontage Road | southbound exit only | |
| 31 | Spring Creek Parkway | ||
| 32 | Legacy Drive | ||
| 32A | Frontage Road | northbound exit and southbound exit | |
| 33 | Bethany Drive | ||
| 34 | McDermott Drive (former Farm to Market Road 2170) | ||
| 35 | Allen Drive | northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
| 36 | Exchange Parkway | ||
| 37 |  | ||
| 38 | Ridgeview Drive | ||
| 38A |   | SH 121 joins northbound and leaves southbound | |
| 39 | Eldorado Parkway | ||
| 40A |   | ||
| 40B | White Avenue | northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
| 41 |  | ||
| 42 | Wilmeth Road | ||
| 43 |  | ||
| 44 | Telephone Road; Davis Road | ||
| 45 | | SH 121 joins southbound and leaves northbound | |
| 46 | Melissa Road | ||
| 47 | Throckmorton Road; Foster Crossing Road | ||
| 48 |  | ||
| 49 | Mantua Road | ||
| 50 | County Line Road | ||
| 51 |  | due to confusion between this exit and State Highway 121 (a few miles to the south, which leads to DFW Airport), southbound highway signs are marked "DFW TRAFFIC DO NOT EXIT" | |
| 52 | Farmington Road | ||
| 53 |  | ||
| 54 |   | ||
| 55A | Frontage Road | southbound exit and entrance | |
| 55 | Frontage Road | ||
| 56 |  | ||
| 56A | South Travis Street | northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
| 56B | Frontage Road | northbound exit only | |
| 57 | Park Street; Center Street | ||
| 58 |  | Lamar Street is one way eastbound; Houston Street is one way westbound | |
| 59 | Washington Street | no southbound entrance | |
| 60 |  | ||
| 61 |  | no southbound exit | |
| 62 | Lamberth Road | northbound exit and southbound entrance | |
| 63 |  | ||
| 64 | Loy Lake Road; Fallon Drive | ||
| 65 |  | ||
| 66 |  | ||
| 67 | Loy Lake Road | ||
| 68 | Crawford Street Road | ||
| 69 |  | ||
| 70 |  | ||
| 71 | Randell Lake Road | ||
| 72 | | ||
| 73 |  | US 69 joins northbound and leaves southbound | |
| 74 | Texas Travel Info Center | ||
Images of Central Expressway
References
1. Texasfreeway.com - Photos from after renovation
2. Texasfreeway.com - Historic photos
3. http://www.projectpast.org/jcbrandon/papers/dallas2004.asp
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