Trinity Parkway Would Raise Dallas-Area VMT by One Million Miles a Day

Brandon Formby reports on effects of the controversial proposed Trinity Parkway project in Dallas: "According to North Texas traffic projections for 2035, drivers who pass through a 34.3-mile area around the road will collectively drive 8 million miles a day if Trinity Parkway is built. But they’ll only drive 7 million miles a day that same year if it isn’t."

Moreover, "while the toll road’s existence is expected to help drivers around the urban core spend 4,817 fewer hours sitting in traffic jams each day, the time they’ll spend driving overall will jump about 11,677 hours a day."

Formby also devotes a lot of time in the article to provide the political context for the debate, as well as the planning perspective on the consequences of the Trinity parkway proposal. As for the current status of the project, Formby provides the following:

Its traffic impacts for 2035 are based off a large-scale version of the road that federal highway authorities say they expect to eventually be built. The Dallas City Council, meanwhile, has commissioned a team of experts and government employees to design a first phase of construction that will limit the number of lanes and interchanges with other highways.