Texas State Highway 121

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State Highway 121
Length:	85.56[1] mi (137.69 km)
Formed:	by 1939
Southwest end:	I-35W/US 287 at Fort Worth
Major junctions:	I-820 I-635 I-35E US 75 US 380 US 69 US 82
Northeast end:	SH 78
Highways in Texas < SH 120 SH 122 >

State Highway 121, locally known as 121, is a diagonal state highway, angling from southwest to northeast through north central Texas. It runs from downtown Fort Worth, Texas at the junction of Interstate 35W to Bonham, Texas, just north of a junction with U.S. Highway 82.

Contents 1 Route description 2 Toll road 2.1 Controversy 3 Exit list 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Route description

Sections between downtown Fort Worth and Grapevine, Texas are freeway, including a small segment near Hurst, Texas that coincides with Interstate 820. At Bedford, Texas it has an interchange with State Highway 183, the Irving freeway that leads toward Dallas; it has an interchange with State Highway 360, which leads toward Arlington, Texas, just to the west of the north entrance to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, to which State Highway 121 gives access. At Grapevine it has interchanges with State Highway 114 and Interstate 635 before the end of the freeway (in 2004), where it becomes a surface road (Business 121) and a limited-access tollway that passes between Lewisville and its eastern neighbor The Colony.

It meets Interstate 35E at Lewisville, Texas, State Highway 289 near Frisco, Texas, U.S. Highway 75 and U.S. Highway 380 in McKinney, Texas, U.S. Highway 69 at Trenton, Texas, and State Highway 78 just north of Bonham.

It is very heavily traveled south and west of McKinney and has become an urban highway due to the rapid growth of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Sections not yet of freeway quality are scheduled for upgrade or replacement as freeway. Discussions have been held as to whether the upgraded freeway should be a toll road instead (see below), which has sparked controversy among area residents.

Plans have been made to extend 121 south from Fort Worth to Cleburne, Texas, as a toll road called Southwest Parkway to be operated by the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA).

[edit] Toll road

State Highway 121 Toll or SH 121T is a toll facility to be built as the main lanes of State Highway 121 in Collin County, Texas. The North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA), in conjunction with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), has studied potential options for constructing SH 121 as a tollway between the Dallas North Tollway and US 75 (Central Expressway), a distance of approximately 12 miles.

Currently, TxDOT has not allocated funding for the SH 121 main lanes between Preston Road (State Highway 289) and US 75, although construction of the Hillcrest Rd overpass has begun as of January 2007 and the Preston overpass is 70% complete. Preliminary schematics for a toll financed facility were completed in 2001, but project funding options and right-of-way acquisition at the proposed toll plaza areas are still not determined. The project is estimated at costing $214 million. Frontage road construction began in 2003 and was completed in 2006. A date for completion of main lane construction has not yet been determined (only a small portion around Custer Road, which was built along with the frontage roads, is currently in place).

Plans are to use only electronic toll collection with no tollbooths or toll collectors along both the route like Westpark Tollway in Houston. People will be able to use a transponder unit known as a TollTag attached to a vehicle's windshield, which communicates with overhead sensors to deduct tolls from the user's toll account. If a person does not have a TollTag, they can still drive on the tollway, because the overhead sensors will scan and record the licence plate number, locate the owner's address, and send a monthly bill showing their toll cost plus 1/3 of a toll cost (to cover the license plate processing) plus a $1.00 invoice fee. [2]

The major portion of Highway 121 in neighboring Denton County has already been built (the rest is currently under construction, as well as the portion in Collin County between the county line and Highway 289), and effective December 1 tolls are being collected using totally electronic collection.

[edit] Controversy

In early 2007, the Spanish firm Cintra agreed to a $2.8 billion, 50-year deal to finish building and maintain SH 121.[3] However, critics of the deal have questioned both its length--the contract allows Cintra to collect tolls for 50 years--and the fact that the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) was prevented from bidding on the contract. In addition, general opposition to the toll plan organized, pointing out that the segment through Denton County had already been paid for.[4]

To answer some of these complaints, Texas legislators pressed the Texas Department of Transportation to allow the NTTA to bid.[5] The Authority announced their proposed bid in early May 2007, which would provide approximately $3.3 billion in road funding, but is based on traffic counts that differ from those used by Cintra.[6]

On June 28, 2007, the Texas Transportation Commission announced it would pursue the proposal from the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA). [7]

[edit] Exit list

County	Location	Destinations	Notes
Tarrant	Fort Worth	Spur 347 west (Belknap Street) – Downtown Fort Worth	Continuation beyond I-35W
		I-35W / US 287 / US 377 south – Denton, Waco
		US 377 north (Belknap Street)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		Sylvania Avenue
		Riverside Drive
		Beach Street
		Maxine Street	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Haltom City
		Haltom Road
		Carson Street
		Minnis Drive
	Richland Hills	Handley-Ederville Road
		I-820 south	South end of I-820 overlap
	Hurst
		SH 10 east / SH 183 west – Richland Hills	South end of SH 183 overlap; signed as exit 24 southbound
		Pipeline Road, Glenview Drive	Signed as exit 23 eastbound
	North Richland Hills
		SH 26 / FM 1938 north (Davis Boulevard) – Colleyville, Tarrant County College Northeast Campus	Signed as exit 22A northbound
		I-820 west	North end of I-820 overlap
		Bedford-Euless Road	Signed as exit 22A northbound
	Hurst
		Image:Texas FM 3029.svg FM 3029 north (Precinct Line Road) / Hurstview Drive
		Norwood Drive, Brown Trail
	Bedford	Bedford Road, Forest Ridge Drive, Brown Trail
		Central Drive, Forest Ridge Drive
		SH 183 east – D/FW Airport South Entry, Irving	No southbound exit; north end of SH 183 overlap
		Murphy Drive, Euless Westpark Way	Northbound exit is via SH 183 east
		Harwood Road
		FM 157 south / Cheek-Sparger Road
	Euless
		Glade Road
	Grapevine
		Hall-Johnson Road
		Stone Myers Parkway	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		SH 360 south – Arlington	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		William D. Tate Avenue	Southbound exit is via SH 114 west
		SH 114 west – Bridgeport	South end of SH 114 overlap; northbound exit is via Tate Avenue
		Spur 103 (Main Street)
		Image:Texas Business 114-L.svg SH 114 Bus. west (Texan Trail) to SH 26
		SH 114 east – Irving, Dallas	North end of SH 114 overlap
		D/FW Airport
		I-635 east
		Bass Pro Drive
		SH 26 south	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		FM 2499 north (Grapevine Mills Parkway) – Flower Mound	No northbound entrance
Dallas	Coppell, Grapevine	Gap in freeway
Denton	Coppell, Lewisville	SH 121 Bus. north – Lewisville
		Denton Tap Road
		MacArthur Boulevard
	Lewisville	I-35E (US 77) – Denton, Dallas	Northbound exit to I-35E north is via MacArthur Boulevard exit
	Carrollton
		Merchant Boulevard, Huffines Boulevard
		Hebron Parkway
		Carrollton Parkway
		FM 544
		North end of freeway
		Image:Texas FM 2281.svg SH 121 Bus. south / FM 2281 – Lewisville	Interchange

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• www.Texas121.org - Official Site