Bush Turnpike north of Dallas rolls out the barrels

by Teresa Gubbins

If you have a thing for orange barrels, then George Bush Turnpike is the place to be. From Garland at the eastern end, to 635 near the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport on the west side, rows of barrels have sprouted at every exit and toll exchange, erected to prevent drivers from going through the now-defunct cash lanes.

Bright orange barrels stretching into the horizon do have a certain mesmerizing quality. But they're also a bit of an eyesore, like seeing a rusted '80s Olds in someone's back yard. Given the obsessive orderliness of the North Texas Tollway Authority, their months-long residence on the Tollway has been utterly puzzling.

The barrels were planted on the roadway in June, when the Turnpike started to prepare for its new all-electronic toll collection (ETC) system. No more cash lanes.

They decided to eliminate cash lanes all the way back in August 2007. Which seems like plenty of time to plan something more lasting than orange barrels and neon-orange wooden saw-horses, no?

According to NTTA spokeswoman Sherita Coffelt, concrete is already on the way.

"The barrels are temporary, and we're in the process of replacing them with concrete barriers to block off the part that's not going to be utilized," she said. "The temporary [barrel] configuration allowed us to make the transition to electronic quicker and smoother. The alternative would have been to [drop in concrete barriers] while traffic was weaving in and out. This was a decision that was in best interest of safety and mobility."

The surprise here is that the cash lanes will be shut down permanently and not, as one might surmise, be transformed into "ZipCash" electronic-collection lanes.

"Those lanes didn't flow through -- they went to the right so that people could stop and pay cash and come back out," Coffelt said. "If no one's paying, we're not losing any capacity as far as free-flowing lanes."

But even concrete barriers seem odd. While more permanent and less jarring than orange barrels, they still have an unfinished quality. That's because the NTTA hasn't decided what it wants to do with the shut-down cash lanes. Some areas, like the eastbound exit for Coit Road, represent large swaths of unused roadway, not to mention the rows of cash booths now sitting empty. It all seems like a giant waste.

"Later on down the road, they're considering ways to use them," Coffelt said. "There's been talk about using them for restroom services for crews that are on the roadway. Or possibly sell the real estate? They don't know right now. The alternative uses for those areas is under review."

George Bush is the first tollway to switch over to ETC. The new Sam Rayburn Tollway was built that way from the get-go. The NTTA plans to switch over all toll roads to no-cash lanes, including the Addison toll tunnel and Dallas North Tollway, scheduled to switch over by 2011.

It all started because of the toll booth remodeling on the Dallas North Tollway down at Wycliff.

"'All electronic' started as a temporary solution to congestion issues at the South end of the Tollway," Coffelt said. "They needed a way to clear up that congestion while construction was ongoing. But once it was implanted, we saw that it was immediately as effective."

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