NORTH TEXAS / THE METROPLEX ARCHIVES
Dallas–Fort Worth.
Two cities. One road story.
Explore the freeways that joined Dallas and Fort Worth, reshaped both downtowns and kept reaching toward the fast-growing cities between them.
Find a freeway Start with the photographs →
From the TexasFreeway Dallas archive
Central Expressway meets the Dallas skyline.
HISTORIC DOCUMENTS
Dallas-Fort Worth photographs, maps & road history
Freeway plans from 1967, 1971 and 1978, road maps from the 1960s and 1970s, and photographs reaching back to the 1950s.
DFW before the next interchange
Historic roads, openings, construction and views of both cities.
Dallas-Fort Worth historic photos →
A freeway network larger than the one built
The 1967 plan drew a remarkably dense web through Dallas and Fort Worth.
Historic planning maps →Browse the historical collections
FREEWAY PHOTOS
Dallas-Fort Worth freeway photo galleries
Move from downtown Dallas to the open stretches of I-45, then west to I-35W in Fort Worth. The archive belongs to the whole region.
Historic DFW
Turnpikes, opening ceremonies and early urban freeways.
View collection →
Downtown Dallas freeways
The Mixmaster, Woodall Rodgers, I-30 and elevated I-45.
View collection →
North Dallas aerial tour
Nine views by Jim Lyle before the High Five changed the skyline.
View collection →
I-35W in Fort Worth
From the original Mixmaster to the reconstructed south freeway.
View collection →
I-45 through South Dallas
From open land south of I-20 to the downtown viaduct.
View collection →
Building the High Five
The five-level I-635 and US 75 interchange rises over North Dallas.
View archive →↳ The turnpike reaches Dallas at the Mixmaster.
DALLAS-FORT WORTH ROAD ARCHIVES
Know the road?
Find its story.
- I-30 / I-35EDowntown DallasMixmaster, Woodall Rodgers and the downtown freeway ring.
- I-35WFort WorthThe South Freeway and the original four-level Mixmaster.
- I-45South DallasRural approaches, Trinity crossing and downtown viaduct.
- US 75Central ExpresswayRebuilt through North Dallas in the 1990s.
- PGBTPresident George Bush TurnpikeThe northern section opened July 31, 2001.
- SH 161West DFWFour five-level-stack connectors opened in July 2000.
- I-20 / I-635Southern MetroplexA broad belt of freeway and stack interchanges.
- DNTDallas North Tollway
Around Dallas-Fort Worth
- Demolition of the I-30 Lancaster ElevatedThe original elevated structure was permanently removed in 2001.
- SH 360 northWest of DFW Airport · added June 13, 2001.
- Drive the Bush TurnpikeA driver’s view added August 22, 2001.
- SH 190 and SH 161 indexPreserved status pages for the two corridors.
- Views around the DFW region
CONSTRUCTION
The Metroplex before the lanes opened.
Construction records from the Dallas High Five and completed projects across both sides of the region.
I-635 / US 75 ·
2003
FROM THE DALLAS CONSTRUCTION ARCHIVE
Five levels, still taking shape.
Dallas-Fort Worth construction projects
Original Dallas archive directory
Historical links, descriptions and dates from the source page
The entries below preserve the wording and dates shown in the source directory, including its March 9, 2003 High Five update.
Addition Information
For more information about the Dallas/Fort Worth area please visit Eric Slotboom’s site at http://dfwfreeways.info/default.aspx
Historic documents
See the amazing 1967 freeway plan for Dallas, as well as 1971 and 1978 maps. Fascinating photos from DFW freeway past, going back to the 1950’s. See road maps from 1960, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1974, and 1979.
Photo Gallery
- Demolition of the IH-30 Lancaster Elevated – The original elevated structure was permanently removed in the second half of 2001.
- Aerial Tour of North Dallas (added 10-Feb-2002)– See some nice views, courtesy of the Texas Transportation Institute.
- Interstate 35W, Fort Worth (added 26-August-2001)– The huge new interchange at IH-30 will was completed in early 2002.
- 360 north, west of DFW Airport (added 13-June-2001)– The north section is the only non-freeway section, but will be upgraded soon.
- Interstate 45 (added 17-May-2001)– IH-45 crosses sparsely populated southeast Dallas.
- Central Expressway, US75 (photos added 17-May-2001)– Major reconstruction was completed in November 1999.
- 190, Bush Turnpike – The northern section was opened on July 31, 2001.
- Drive the 190/Bush Turnpike – (added 22-August-2001) Get a driver’s view of the impressive new facility.
- 161 – Four connectors for a 5-level stack opened in July 2000
- 190 and 161 index – See the status of all the segments of these new facilities
- Downtown Dallas – See views of the freeways around downtown Dallas, including the site of the upcoming Woodall Rogers Freeway bridge.
- I-20/I-635 – This wide freeway along the southern perimeter of the metroplex features one stack after another.
- Dallas North Tollway – Interim coverage until I can get better photos.
- DFW area – See freeway images from around the DFW region.
Construction
Dallas High Five Interchange (Updated March 9, 2003)
Construction photos of completed projects.
Freeways in Development and Future Freeways
- 161 Freeway – All legal challenges to this all-new freeway were dismissed in February 2000. Look for contruction to begin in 2003.
- 199 Freeway – Northwest Fort Worth
- 170 Freeway – Far North Fort Worth. This will form part of the outer Loop 9 freeway.
- 114 Freeway (major update 15-October-2001) – Northwest of DFW airport
- 121 Freeway – (updated 10-June-2001) $524 million in funding was approved in July 2001.
- Trinity Turnpike – The turnpike is threatened by alignment controversy and escalating cost.
Deleted Content
(last updated 26-August-2002)
Looking for something you saw previously on TexasFreeway.com, but can’t find it anymore?
See the list of deleted DFW content.
DFW PLANNING
Freeway plans, proposals & future roads
These preserved pages describe projects as they stood around 2000–2003. Dates and predictions remain historical, even where the roads later changed.
- SH 161 freewayAll legal challenges had been dismissed by February 2000; the source expected construction in 2003.
- SH 199 freewayNorthwest Fort Worth proposal.
- SH 170 freewayThe source described it as part of an outer Loop 9.
- SH 114 freewayNorthwest of DFW Airport · major update October 15, 2001.
- SH 121 freewayThe source recorded $524 million in funding approved in July 2001.
- Trinity TurnpikeA preserved account of alignment controversy and escalating cost.
ABOUT DALLAS–FORT WORTH
Two cities in one metropolitan story
The old TexasFreeway profile treated Dallas, Fort Worth and the communities between them as one regional subject. That distinction still matters: the archive crosses city lines as often as the roads do.
Archived metropolitan profile. The account below retains its original wording, statistics and rankings from the 2000–2004 period. It is not a current regional profile.
Go to current DFW facts ↓
The Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex
The Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex encompasses the metropolitan divisions of Dallas–Plano–Irving and Fort Worth–Arlington, within the U.S. state of Texas. The Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex is officially known as the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington Metropolitan Area, a title designated by the U.S. Census as of 2003 and consists of twelve counties in North Texas. The Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex is mainly served by the area codes of 214, 972, 469, 682, and 817.
According to the U.S. Census 2000, the metropolitan area had 5,161,544 people, but a 2003 estimate puts the population at 5,589,670. The Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington MSA is the fifth largest United States metropolitan area and one of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the world.
Dallas
Dallas is the third-largest city within the State of Texas, ninth in the United States, and together with Fort Worth and the Mid-Cities form the largest metropolitan economic area in the south-central United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, Dallas had a total population of 1.1 million (est. as of July 1, 2004 at 1,210,393). Dallas is the county seat of Dallas County. A small portion of the city also extends into the neighboring counties of Collin County, Denton County, Kaufman County, and Rockwall County.
Dallas is within the Dallas–Plano–Irving metropolitan division and is the main cultural and economic center of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area, a title designated by the U.S. Census, and is colloquially referred to as the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex or simply as “DFW”. As of the 2000 census, the Metroplex had a population of about 5.1 million making it the fifth largest United States metropolitan area and one of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the world. A more recent U.S. Census estimate, however, puts the metropolitan area population at about 5.6 million for 2003.
Dallas was named a “Gamma World City” by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network (GaWC). The metro area is the largest concentration of corporate headquarters in the United States. The area is also served by the world’s third busiest airport.
Fort Worth
Fort Worth is located about 30 miles (50 km) west of Dallas on the West Fork of the Trinity River. It is the county seat of Tarrant County. As of the 2004 U.S. Census estimates, the city had a total population of 603,337 — now the fifth-largest city within Texas and 19th in the United States. The area codes are 817 and 682. Fort Worth is within the Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan division of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area, a title designated by the U.S. Census, and is colloquially referred to as the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.
DALLAS–FORT WORTH FACTS
DFW today. Both cities included.
Dallas, Fort Worth and the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area are three different geographies. The numbers below name which one they describe.
The DFW you might miss
Road facts worth knowing.
Fifty cents connected the cities.
The 30-mile Dallas–Fort Worth Turnpike opened in 1957. The original toll was 50 cents.
The turnpike’s Fort Worth context ↗Texas’s first four-level interchange.
The I-30/I-35W “Pretzel” or “Mixmaster” opened in Fort Worth in 1958. Tight right-of-way forced the roadways to stack.
How the first stack happened ↗The High Five finished early.
TxDOT reported that the Dallas High Five was completed in December 2005, more than a year ahead of schedule.
TxDOT’s completion report ↗Dallas put a park over the freeway.
Klyde Warren Park opened in 2012 above Woodall Rodgers Freeway, joining downtown with Uptown across 5.2 acres.
Dallas city timeline ↗An airport between its owner cities.
DFW Airport sits between Dallas and Fort Worth, covers 17,183 acres and began operating in 1974.
DFW Airport facts ↗
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau: July 2025 city estimates — Dallas: 1,329,491; Fort Worth: 1,028,117; ninth- and tenth-largest U.S. cities.
- U.S. Census Bureau: 2025 metro estimates — DFW MSA: 8,477,157; increase of 123,557 over the revised 2024 estimate.
- Local facts: TxDOT, City of Dallas, City of Fort Worth and DFW Airport, linked beside each item.
- Historic photograph: Texas Turnpike Authority Annual Reports.
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