DALLAS, TX — Balfour Beatty along with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), federal, state, and local officials celebrated the completion of the Interstate 35E (I-35E) Lowest Stemmons project with an official ribbon cutting ceremony in Dallas. The $83-million improvement project on I-35E between I-30 and Oak Lawn Avenue is the first completed project of TxDOT’s Texas Clear Lanes initiative in the Dallas District, which reduces traffic congestion and improves safety in Texas’ large metropolitan areas.

Balfour Beatty, in joint venture with Pegasus Link Constructors, served as general contractor for the Lowest Stemmons project, which constructed new collector-distributor lanes parallel to I-35E to give travelers a safer and easier path to and from Woodall Rodgers Freeway and the Dallas North Tollway. The dedicated lanes are improving safety by eliminating the previous merging and weaving movements, a change that will keep traffic flowing on the main lanes and on the 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,” Texas Transportation Commission Chairman J. Bruce Bugg Jr. said. “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 initiative targets extremely congested roadways in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston. Due to dedicated funding overwhelmingly approved by Texas voters in 2014 and 2015, TxDOT has been able to develop and program projects specifically designed to reduce gridlock and improve safety in these large metropolitan areas.

“We are honored to celebrate the opening of Texas Department of Transportation’s Lowest Stemmons project in Downtown Dallas,” said John Rempe, P.E., Executive Vice President of Balfour Beatty’s Southwest Civils operations. “For more than 27 years, Balfour Beatty’s Southwest Region has worked on some of the most complex infrastructure projects including the Dallas Horseshoe and Southern Gateway, and Lowest Stemmons adds to this list of transformative highway solutions that will continue to improve safety and mobility for thousands of travelers in the area. We commend our Balfour Beatty project team members for successfully delivering this component safely and in strong partnership with TxDOT’s Dallas District.”