Although drivers are currently enduring months of traffic and detours, at the completion of the expansion of the U.S. Highway 75 in McKinney, traffic flow will be smooth. The exit ramps and frontage road lanes will open soon in the coming weeks, although construction works will still continue in other locations along the highway. With this, officials said that it will probably take a year before one of Collin County’s main highways will be completely clear of construction and its equipment.
The construction project is headed by the Texas Department of Transportation in order to add lanes to widen frontage roads and McKinney’s entrance and exit ramps near Edorado Parkway. The additional highway capacity is due to the expected growth of the County’s population to over a million within the next decade, which might cause congestion on the existing road systems in the area.
The construction will be patterned to TxDOT’s project at Parker Road in Plano last December 2010. The single point urban interchange model is designed to keep motorists turning right to use one ramp and those turning left will use another ramp locate on the opposite side. Currently to get to Eldorado Plaza drivers have to exit either before State Highway 5 or they can take the Virginia Parkway route and circle back around after about a two mile drive to the north.
Though drivers and establishments may be inconvenienced with the on-going construction at the project’s completion it will help the growth of the business sector of the area aside from combating future traffic concerns. Officials are doing their best to keep residents and business-owner informed of the project’s progress, as business owners are seeing a decline in their sales. Officials believe that with open communication everyone will understand that eventually everybody will benefit from the project.