Route description The North Central Expressway extends from
Woodall Rogers Freeway to County Line Road in
Van Alstyne. For its entirety, the highway contains at least six frontage road lanes alongside the main lanes. The road has at least eight continuous general-purpose lanes between
Downtown Dallas and
SH 121 north of
McKinney, 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). A 16-mile bi-directional
HOV system, opened in 2007, extends from
Interstate 635 to McDermott Road in
Allen. The expressway's junction with Interstate 635 is a five-level
stack interchange known as the
High Five Interchange, the tallest in the world. For the next north of
downtown Dallas, the freeway lies more than below adjacent and partially
cantilevered frontage roads. This 14-lane segment is one of the busiest highways in the nation, averaging approximately 350,000
AADT in 2013. 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,
Lower Greenville,
NorthPark Center, and the
Telecom Corridor. Near the intersection of Central Expressway and Mockingbird Lane is
Southern Methodist University, and
Mockingbird Station. In 2015 a small stretch between Knox-Henderson and Northwest Highway was re-designated as the George W. Bush Expressway. The
Dallas Area Rapid Transit light rail system has a tunnel underneath the North Central Expressway between
downtown Dallas and
Mockingbird Station. The freeway's architecturally distinctive design distinguishes it as one of the nation's most attractive urban freeways including 400,000 trees (bald
cypress,
yucca and
honeysuckle), making it one of the most heavily landscaped freeways in Texas. 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 project distinguishes the freeway. South of US 75's terminus, North Central Expressway briefly continues south in the
median of I-345, then becomes a surface street through the eastern side of downtown Dallas. The surface street section south of Pacific Avenue was renamed for
César Chávez in April, 2010. South of Cesar Chavez Blvd, State Highway 310 continues to carry the South Central Expressway name all the way to I-20 and I-45.
History The Central project was first proposed by Dallas City Planner
George E. Kessler in 1911, who suggested that the city buy the right of way of the
Houston and Texas Central Railway (H&TC) to remove the railway tracks and construct a Central Boulevard (later renamed the Central Expressway project) in their place. The Central project became a real project in the 1920s (with first mention in
The Dallas Morning News in December 1924), but resistance from the
Southern Pacific railroad company proved to be a serious obstacle that delayed the project for decades. Southern Pacific opposed the use of their railroad's right of way to construct Central Expressway, and it was this opposition and lobbying of political forces that caused the significant delays in the construction to the early 1950s. Parts of North Central Expressway were opened in 1950. The route from Downtown to Mockingbird Lane was fully functional by the end of 1952, and the whole route to Campbell Road in
Richardson was opened for traffic in August 1956. By the time Central Expressway opened for traffic, North Dallas and Richardson had already expanded beyond expectations, and the new highway was already hopelessly inadequate by the 1960s. The Expressway did not reach the city of
Anna and the northern
Collin County line until late 1969 or early 1970.
Reconstruction Prior to reconstruction, the North Central Expressway was considered to be one of the most poorly designed freeways in the nation. 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. By the 1980s, the four-lane freeway had acquired a reputation for severe rush-hour traffic jams.
Freedman's Cemetery During Central Expressway's construction in the 1940s, the southern end of the road was routed through a historic
African-American neighborhood, displacing 1,500 black residents. When preparations began for the 1990s expansion of the route, it was discovered that a quarter of the
Freedman's Cemetery, with graves dating back to
Emancipation, had been paved over. Archeological excavations uncovered the remains of over 1100 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. == South Central Expressway ==