in Dallas as of August 2015 during the construction of the
Margaret McDermott Bridge on I-30 crosses the
Trinity River in west Dallas. This bridge was completed in 2016 as part of the
Horseshoe Project and the
Trinity River Project. The very first fully controlled-access part of what is now I-30 was the Dallas–Fort Worth Turnpike, a controlled-access tollway in the
Dallas–Fort Worth area. Completed by 1957, it operated as a toll road between 1957 and 1977, afterward becoming a nondescript part of I-20 and then I-30. The road, three lanes in each direction but later widened, is the only direct connection between
Downtown Fort Worth and
Downtown Dallas. In October 2001, the former turnpike was named the
Tom Landry Highway, after the late
Dallas Cowboys coach. 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 (equivalent to $ million in ) 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. At the end of 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 in the first week of 1978. The existing US 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 a rural section near Greenville and a few miles in Hopkins County. There were still a few at-grade crossings on these two sections into the 1980s. The twinned US 67 routes were upgraded to
Interstate Highway standards beginning in 1961, forming the R.L. Thornton Freeway. By the mid-1960s, much of I-30 was under construction outside the metroplex as well. The majority of the route was completed by 1965, but a stretch through rural areas built on a new alignment well away from US 67 between
Mount Pleasant and
New Boston remained unfinished. This remaining segment was finally built and opened to traffic in 1971, completing I-30. Originally, the west end of I-30 was at the current intersection of I-30 and
US 80 near the border of Mesquite and Dallas. I-20 went into Downtown Dallas and across the former turnpike through Downtown Fort Worth and to points west. Later, I-20 took its current southerly route around Dallas and Fort Worth, and I-30 assumed the former I-20 route from US 80 to Western Fort Worth, and later to the current interchange with I-20 near Aledo. I-30 was proposed to be extended along the
US 67 freeway from Little Rock. However, this conflicted with the
Missouri Department of Transportation's plan to extend
I-57, which is also planned to use US 67. In April 2016, a provision designating US 67 from North Little Rock to
Walnut Ridge, as "Future I-57" was added to the federal fiscal year 2017 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development funding bill. The provision would also give Arkansas the ability to request any segment of the road built to Interstate Highway standards be officially added to the Interstate Highway System as I-57. If I-30 had been extended, there were plans to upgrade
AR 226 to
Interstate standards and designate it as I-730. This would eventually become part of
US 78 in 2023.
I-130 was a proposed auxiliary route of I-30 that was planned to be
concurrent with I-49. Once the eastern segment of the
Texarkana Loop had been upgraded to Interstate standards, I-130 was to have been signed; however, it is now part of
I-49. ==Future==