Officials cut the ribbon on an $83m highway upgrade project in Dallas this week, part of the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) ‘Clear Lanes’ initiative which uses new road layouts to improve safety and ease congestion.

Balfour Beatty, in a joint venture with Pegasus Link Constructors, built new collector-distributor lanes along a 2.3-mile stretch of Interstate-35E in downtown Dallas – known as the Lowest Stemmons corridor – to give motorists easier access to Woodall Rodgers Freeway and the Dallas North Tollway.

The dedicated lanes cut the need for cars to merge and weave to get in the correct lane, a change that will keep traffic flowing on the main lanes and on new connector ramps.

The project also features seven new bridge spans constructed adjacent to the north and southbound I-35E main lanes and capacity improvements on frontage roads.

“As Texas continues to grow, so do the traffic demands in key metros across the state with 24 chokepoints identified in Dallas alone,” said Texas Transportation Commission Chairman J. Bruce Bugg Jr. at the 25 October ceremony.

He added: “Congestion is not just about lost time. It’s also about lost productivity. If we can keep traffic moving and get it moving faster, the Texas economy will have even more opportunities to grow.” The Texas Clear Lanes effort will continue to find innovative transportation solutions like this $83 million project.”

The Texas Clear Lanes initiative targets extremely congested roads in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio and Houston. The Lowest Stemmons project is the first to complete.

Other Clear Lanes projects Balfour Beatty is working on include the $1.7bn, I-635 LBJ East scheme and the $666m I-35E/US 67 Southern Gateway scheme.