▶︎ READ FULL DESCRIPTION ◀︎👀
Today, we start our trip from W. Parker Road in Plano heading south on the North Central Expressway (U.S. 75) to downtown Dallas. *NOTE* This video was recorded mid-morning on a Tuesday which explains the light to moderate traffic. Once we reach downtown, exiting the expressway to the Woodall Rodgers Freeway (TX-366), exiting at N. Field St. to Commerce St.
▶︎U.S. 75 Facts◀︎👀
U.S. Route 75 is a major north–south U.S. Highway that extends 1,239 miles (1,994 km) in the central United States. The highway's northern terminus is in Noyes, Minnesota, at the Canadian border, where it once continued as Manitoba Highway 75 on the other side of the now-closed border crossing. Its southern terminus is at Interstate 30 (I-30) and I-45 in Dallas, where it is known as North Central Expressway.
US 75 was a cross-country route, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico at Galveston, Texas. However, the entire segment south of Dallas has been decommissioned in favor of I-45, a cutoff section of town-to-town surface road having become Texas State Highway 75.
▶︎The High Five◀︎ 👀
The High Five Interchange, north of downtown in Dallas, Texas, is a massive five-level "stack" freeway interchange. It is the junction of two major highways carrying heavy rush hour traffic, the Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway (Interstate 635) and the Central Expressway (US 75), and is the first five-level "stack" interchange to be built in the city.
It replaces the antiquated three-level, modified cloverleaf interchange built in the 1960s that caused a severe bottleneck by narrowing US 75 down to two lanes at the junction of the two highways. The looped ramps of the cloverleaf forced motorists to slow down drastically, backing up traffic. Left-hand exits contributed to the congestion. Further, its two frontage roads were not directly connected to each other, making local access difficult.
Alluding to the celebratory gesture, the "High Five" name refers to the five flyover ramps handling the left-turn movements that tower over the landscape. The interchange is as high as a 12-story building, and includes 43 bridges spread across five levels (the "High Five"), 710 support tiers, and 60 miles of additional highway. The highest ramps are 100 feet (30 m) above ground.[6] The lanes of US 75, which are on the bottom level, are 20 feet (6 m) below ground level, giving the structure a total height of 120 feet from bottom to top. As part of the project, I-635 was widened to include four dedicated high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV lanes) that are barrier-separated and reversible.
