Why Transportation Is In High Gear: The Outer Loop
Ask anyone who lives in north Texas, especially in the charming communities around Dallas such as Lavon, Nevada, Royse City and Rockwall, about the importance of efficient traffic flow and the odds are very good that this is top-of-mind for most. This is because this area is a wildly popular place to live and more people means more cars.
Master planned communities such as Elevon, located just a few minutes from one of the premiere recreational lakes in Texas - Lake Lavon - has become a magnet for families who want to be close enough to the attractions, entertainment and shopping of Dallas, but far enough away to have a quiet, small-town lifestyle.
Zipping down to Dallas for a Mavs game or concert at the American Airlines Center or a trip to the Art’s District in downtown Dallas from one of these charming suburban towns would be a LOT easier if there was an alternative route for commercial vehicles that allowed them to simply bypass the heart of Dallas and Fort Worth.
Fortunately, the transportation planners of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the county governments of all the counties encircling DFW have been working diligently on this plan for several years. It’s called the DFW Regional Outer Loop and in the next few years, residents in Elevon and other communities neighboring Dallas and Fort Worth will be reaping the benefits of all this planning.
A Major Transportation Advancement
According to TxDOT and media reports, “The Dallas‐Fort Worth Regional Outer Loop is a proposed future bypass route around the DFW metroplex. As currently envisioned the Outer Loop will include improvements to existing roadways and the construction of new location facilities.” The purpose of the project is to improve regional mobility and system connectivity with the I‐35 corridor. As currently envisioned, the Outer Loop would provide a bypass route of the DFW metroplex urban core.
This will allow cars, trucks, and buses, attempting to go from points north of DFW to points south, an easier, less-congested route. This will, in turn, allow commuters who live in the suburban communities around Dallas and Fort Worth to have less congestion on the roadways they choose. When completed, this Outer Loop will dramatically improve the transportation options and quality of life for residents in communities such as Elevon.
TxDOT notes, “The ‘I‐35 Corridor Segment 1 Committee’ is considering the DFW Regional Outer Loop system, as generally described in the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) Mobility 2030 Plan – 2009 Amendment, which includes improvements to existing I‐35, I‐35W, State Highway (SH) 170, SH 360 and new location roadways in the eastern and western portions of the proposed projects, including the proposed Loop 9 project.”
The Dirt Is Already Flying on the Outer Loop
Community Impact Newspapers report that in 2022, “a segment of roadway was completed on Collin County’s portion of the Outer Loop project, and a new one is set to begin next year just north of McKinney.
“In 2023 work is slated to start on a two-lane, east-west frontage road between Preston Road and US 75. It is a segment of the county’s portion of the Outer Loop, a 50-year total proposed freeway project that would extend east from the Denton County and Collin County line then south to Rockwall County once complete.
“Collin County’s portion will feed into the larger proposed Outer Loop project—a project that in its entirety will not be finished for several more decades but would span seven counties and 240 miles around the northern portion of Dallas-Fort Worth, officials said.
"The goal is mobility and to try to alleviate some of the congestion that is going to occur as Collin County continues to develop and grow,’ said Duncan Webb, the regional Transportation Council Chair and Collin County Precinct 4 commissioner.
“The county is sitting at a population of about 1.1 million people, and it is projected to grow to between 2.5 million and 3.5 million by 2050,’ Webb said.
“Earlier this year (2022), crews completed work on a connecting segment of the frontage road and a portion of the Collin County Outer Loop main lanes between the Dallas North Tollway and Preston Road in the Celina area. When the two-lane service road between the tollway and Preston opened this spring, it immediately became congested.
With that road already at capacity, the county is now working to build an additional lane in each direction for that service road, so it will have two lanes moving in each direction. Construction is expected to begin in 2024, but the duration of the construction has not been determined.”
Transportation Improvements Will Enhance Value
Development of the transportation infrastructure around Elevon is moving rapidly because homeowners have discovered the quiet lifestyle, great schools and outstanding amenities of this master-planned community, just a few minutes from Lake Lavon. As projects like the Outer Loop come to fruition, the value of the homes in Elevon will most likely increase. This means that now is a great time to find out what all the fuss is about. Click here and find out for yourself.