Plans presented Tuesday would add flyover bridges at the intersection of Highway 84 and Highway 6, seen at bottom. Other proposals include a Franklin Avenue overpass at New Road and a redesigned “diverging diamond” interchange at Hewitt Drive and Highway 84.
TxDOT officials presented a proposal Tuesday for Franklin Avenue overpasses crossing New Road, among other redesigned intersections.
The Texas Department of Transportation presented a proposal Tuesday for a redesign of Highway 84 intersections from Hewitt Drive to Franklin Avenue, and continuing along Franklin to Cheddar's Drive.
Excited chatter filled the room at Springhill Suites in Woodway during a public input meeting on the proposal that would add overpasses and ramps on Franklin Avenue at New Road, add flyovers at the Highway 84 and Highway 6 interchange, create a “diverging diamond” interchange at Hewitt Drive and Highway 84, and more. TxDOT did not present cost estimates for the project.
Michael McDaniel, an engineer with LJA, the firm TxDOT hired for design and schematic work, said the double diamond behaves like a normal intersection with traffic lights, but has advantages.
“You’re doing half the lights,” McDaniel said. “With traffic crossing they have freedom of movement to turn to the highway or a U-turn.”
People are also reading…
A distinct feature of the design is that traffic moving through the intersection, in this case on Hewitt Drive or Estates Drive over Highway 84, would briefly cross to pass on the left of the lanes for traffic in the opposite direction.
The Texas Department of Transportation presented a proposal Tuesday for a redesign of Highway 84 and Franklin Avenue intersections in the western part of Waco. Two new flyover bridges at the intersection of Highways 6 and 84, plus an overpass for Franklin Avenue at New Road are part of the plans.
The city of Waco, the Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization and TxDOT have been looking at possible solutions for the congested area for the last two years or so, said Bill Compton, director of construction for the TxDOT Waco District. The department projects the 48,568 vehicles that cross Highway 84 each day will increase to more than 70,000 by 2044, and traffic on this stretch of Franklin, also known as Spur 298, will increase from just over 27,000 to 44,520 vehicles.
There are divided main lanes and two service roads along that stretch of Franklin. The new design would incorporate three- or four-lane roads headed each direction, without separate service roads.
“Where we have incidents, there are people cutting across the various median structures,” Compton said.
Doing away with the service roads would eliminate that type of incident.
“It’s a safer operation for everyone,” Compton said.
TxDOT plans call for a pair of flyover bridges at Highway 84 and Highway 6.
Two new flyover bridges at the intersection of Highway 6 and Highway 84 would allow eastbound Highway 84 traffic to connect to southbound Highway 6 without a traffic light, and would allow the same for northbound Highway 6 traffic connecting to westbound Highway 84.
Buddy Freeman said he crosses through the intersection of Highway 6 and Highway 84 several times a week for his job as director of maintenance and transportation for Midway Independent School District.
“To do that without stopping at a traffic light, that would be phenomenal,” he said.
He said plans for the intersections of Highway 84 with Texas Central Parkway and Estates Drive would also help school buses run faster, as minutes spent waiting at red lights can stack up fast for them.
Waco MPO Director Mukesh Kumar said TxDOT initially proposed the Franklin Avenue segment of the project stretching from Highway 84 to Cheddar’s Drive.
TxDOT officials presented a proposal Tuesday for Franklin Avenue overpasses crossing New Road, among other redesigned intersections.
The MPO plans to set aside $36 million of its state funding for use on the Franklin Avenue segment, Kumar said. That proposal will be included in the Transportation Improvement Plan the MPO will vote on next week, and the meeting Tuesday was part of the process for creating the Transportation Improvement Plan. Public input gathered Tuesday will be included in the plan.
Kumar said he and his staff have been making changes so the MPO to operate more like a larger MPO as Waco continues to grow.
“In some ways, we will have to start thinking a little differently,” Kumar said.
One of those changes will be to start modeling how much traffic specific sites attract to an area, called the “induced demand.” Waco MPO has some data about traffic volumes, but has never analyzed induced demand.
“That’s part of the analysis we need to do for ourselves,” Kumar said.
According to TxDOT, the design for the improvements will finalized after another public meeting this summer.
New flyovers would mean many drivers could bypass the traffic lights at the intersection of Highway 6 and Highway 84.
New flyovers would mean many drivers could bypass the traffic lights at the intersection of Highway 6 and Highway 84.
New flyovers would mean many drivers could bypass the traffic lights at the intersection of Highway 6 and Highway 84.
New flyovers would mean many drivers could bypass the traffic lights at the intersection of Highway 6 and Highway 84.
New flyovers would mean many drivers could bypass the traffic lights at the intersection of Highway 6 and Highway 84.
Plans presented Tuesday would add flyover bridges at the intersection of Highway 84 and Highway 6, seen at bottom. Other proposals include a Franklin Avenue overpass at New Road and a redesigned “diverging diamond” interchange at Hewitt Drive and Highway 84.
Franklin Avenue could gain an overpass crossing New Road, based on TxDOT plans presented Tuesday.
Rhiannon Saegert
Rhiannon Saegert is a graduate of the University of North Texas who formerly worked at The Ardmoreite in Ardmore, Okla., the Denton Record-Chronicle and Eater magazine.
