Why are the surface roads in DFW and North Texas so awful? (Dallas: construction, maintenance)

[unknown00]

If you think Dallas is bad, you haven't seen Houston, exponentially worse

[Tyryztoll]

Originally Posted by unknown00

If you think Dallas is bad, you haven't seen Houston, exponentially worse

I disagree. I lived there for 7 years and don't recall anything near what I've experienced here.

[Colt .45]

try livin here in WV and then tell me the roads in DFW are bad...everytime I come back home to visit (Denton) the wide and for the most part smooth roads are one of the things I look forward to, along with Taco Bueno and Whataburger lol....

[JKAddict]

Originally Posted by aggie972

That doesn't matter. It all comes out of our share of total state or federal dollars -- the money available to Dallas. If we weren't spending it on a fancy looking bridge, we could spend it on things we actually need, like paving the damn roads.

I was generous with just saying $100 million+ btw. The Morning News pegged the final price at $182 million (paywall). That's just, oh, $150 million more than a "normal" state highway bridge would have cost. You're right that private donations covered a very small chunk of this luxury purchase.

I mean yeah, it's pretty to look at. But is it more important than having halfway decent streets?

If I'm not mistaken, the money from TxDOT is not available to Dallas. So, if they decide to spend that money on the MHH, Dallas isn't to blame for that.

[unknown00]

Originally Posted by Tyryztoll

I disagree. I lived there for 7 years and don't recall anything near what I've experienced here.

When did you move? In a calendar year (so including 2016), I spent about ~100 days in Houston

[ETex2]

One problem is the roads are typically repaired as cheap as possible. And built the same way. To build a road or highway that will last, it would cost 3 or 4 times as much as we spend. There is simply not enough in the budget of the state (cities and counties as well) to spend the money necessary to build roads that will last longer than 10 - 15 years. By then, TxDot is ready to completely ready to reconstruct and widen the highway anyway due to growth.

[Mr. Clutch]

Dallas does have some terrible roads. Houston's are pretty bad too, maybe a little better, but not much. Austin and SA seem to do a somewhat better job.

[Aggielina]

My neighborhood's roads are atrocious. The city (Dallas) started working on them last fall then stopped. The word on the street (no pun intended) is that they ran into a problem with the water main and that has to be fixed first before they can repair the roads. We have potholes that could swallow a toddler.

I go to Houston a couple of times a year and I haven't seen any as bad as in my neighborhood in Far North Dallas. We still have construction cones and loose gravel piled up from the repairs that were started almost a year ago but never finished. I should probably stop being lazy and complain to someone, but I know others in my neighborhood already have.

[Telegan]

Originally Posted by unknown00

If you think Dallas is bad, you haven't seen Houston, exponentially worse

Originally Posted by Tyryztoll

I disagree. I lived there for 7 years and don't recall anything near what I've experienced here.

I lived in the Houston area for 24 years and have lived in the DFW area for about 17. In either case, it depends upon where you drive. Poorer or older areas tend to have poorer roads. The main city has has poorer roads. Newer burbs seem to have much better roads (duh). Driving from the newer areas of Frisco to work in Downtown Dallas I see that change. I watched areas of Southwest Houston go from middle class to lower income areas and saw that transformation in the roads. Parts of Missouri City are just as bad or worse than Downtown Dallas. It all depends on where you are in each city.

[brainofjjj]

Well at least the roads in Preston Hollow are as bad anywhere. I drive down Walnut Hill daily and it's horrendous...3rd world bad. When i moved here 4 years ago from Nashville i sold my nice sports car because the roads were tearing it up. TN has some of the nicest roads and interstates you'll ever see in the US.