News Coverage

A website for this project is anticipated to launch in March. The project hotline is live and can be reached at 833-HWY-635E. The information email is info@635East.com as well as text alerts: text 635 East to #31996. A groundbreaking ceremony is slated for April 14 and two community open houses scheduled for April. Substantial completion of the I-635 LBJ East Project is expected in 2024.

After many years of delays, Susan Morgan with the activist group LBJ Now intends to be at Thursday night's meeting to see that progress keeps moving. "We have a contractor. We're ready to get forward and the community is really excited. We've waited for this for a very long time. We're excited for the safety improvements. We're excited to get the economic development that will happen because of the additional feeder roads and we're excited to not be sitting in traffic anymore," Morgan said.

“This is in many ways a very exciting milestone for our entire region, our city and certainly the communities of Lake Highlands and Hamilton Park,” Dallas councilman for District 10 Adam McGough told the commission at its meeting. “There are a lot of people that are excited about this project moving forward.”  

The Texas Department of Transportation has awarded a joint venture between Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR) and Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Inc. the design and construction of the I-635 LBJ East Project in Dallas. The project is expected to improve capacity, operational efficiency and safety around north and east Dallas from east of U.S. Highway 75 to I-30 along a portion of the I-635 loop. The key commuter corridor carries more than 200,000 vehicles each day, according to a news release from Irving-based Fluor. Substantial completion for the project is anticipated in the second half of 2024.

Officials also praised residents who took an active role. Several Lake Highlands residents who are part of the LBJ Now movement and drove to Austin monthly to advocate for the project at TTC meetings were in attendance Thursday to witness what they considered a milestone. "LBJ Now is what happens when you get community members behind projects like this," said Christie Myers. "We're still here. This impacts us every single day. And we will continue to be involved and participate in the process."

The Texas Transportation Commission plans to put $1.8 billion in LBJ East  freeway  improvements back on track after a four-month political detour. 

The biggest issue is our state decision-makers won't sit down at the table and work this out for the people they represent who are personally impacted every day,

Denton County Judge Mary Horn told Gov. Greg Abbott “it’s time to govern” in a Feb. 8 letter complaining about delayed projects in the area, and that tolled, managed lanes previously in the plan were the best way to pay for LBJ East. 

It was more frustration for North Texans who contributed two hours of testimony Thursday and have watched the project become the line in the sand on Texas' tollroad debate. The freeway had been removed from the state's 10-year plan by the TTC in December because it called for two tolled lanes in each direction. 

North Texas leaders were optimistic Thursday about progress for a long-awaited expansion of Interstate 635 LBJ East. But they left an Austin meeting disappointed after 20 years of fighting for improvements.  

Lake Highlands residents and leaders fear the decision to block tolling options means the LBJ East expansion cannot move forward.

Texas Transportation Commission agrees to revisit LBJ East project, but without tolls