It has been one year since the reconstruction of LBJ Freeway began amid last February’s winter storm. The 17-mile-long, $3.2 billion project has at least four more years to go. Listen to our podcast with the developers, addressing some the concerns last year.

We’ve seen the demolition or partial demolition of several of our bridges: Joe Ratcliff, Welch, Rosser, Marsh, Montfort and Hillcrest.

We noticed the loss of some trees along the corridor.

We worried that LBJ might become Dallas’ version of carmaggedon. We probably over-reacted a bit.

What’s next? Keeping the LBJ business community strong. The LBJ Express team has launched the LBJ Express Marketplace, which allows businesses to post deals and discounts to encourage people to keeping shopping along the corridor despite the inconvenience of construction.

To learn more about the Marketplace and the status of the LBJ Express project, see a presentation 10-10:45 a.m. Wednesday at the Westin Galleria.

Next up in the ever-increasing construction along LBJ Freeway – Hillcrest Road. The LBJ Express team will begin partial demolition of the Hillcrest overpass starting at 9 p.m. Friday night and running through 4 p.m. Saturday.

Freeway lanes will be redirected along the east and westbound service roads, and Hillcrest Road will be closed. So, steer clear of that area and, really, just stay away from LBJ altogether if you haven’t already. Weekends are proving to be worst time to be there.

As a reminder following our previous post about the nightmare that LBJ will become – stay away from the freeway this weekend, especially the areas near Montfort.

Lane closures will run 7 p.m. Saturday-noon Sunday, and the entire bridge will shut down 6 p.m. Saturday- 6 p.m. Sunday. That’s not just for cars but also bikes and pedestrians.

Construction on the bridge will continue next weekend, too.

We’ve heard some talk about the issues going on between King of Glory Lutheran Church and the neighborhoods behind it. Tuesday night, CBS 11 News ran a report explaining how the LBJ reconstruction is costing the church about 20 percent of its parking space.

To recoup it, King of Glory is expanding, purchasing nearby homes between Preston and Hillcrest and demolishing them to make room for more parking.

Neighbors say the church did not keep them informed about their intentions, although King of Glory has reportedly halted its plan while it continues to negotiate with the residents.

This is not just about people losing their homes but the idea of having a parking lot move in next door.

As the LBJ Express approaches the reconstruction of key bridges along the freeway, drivers will begin to see the first major traffic impact (as if it hasn’t been bad enough yet). So, project officials are doing everything they can to direct people away from the Joe Ratcliff, Rosser, Marsh and Montfort bridges as they move to a reduced capacity Sept. 10-Oct. 17.

“We could have a DFW carmageddon,” says Andy Rittler of LBJ Infrastructure Group. “This when people are going to want to avoid LBJ completely.”

To help, they’ve partnered with the developers of the mobile app, WAZE, a community traffic and navigation tool that delivers real-time information and will direct people around these bridges.

The app will only direct people to neighborhood side streets if absolutely necessary, says  Michal Habdank-Kolaczkowski, Director of Communications for WAZ. “It’s programmed to find roads where traffic is moving the fastest – other surrounding freeways.

WAZE partnered with the ABC station in Los Angeles after one its major freeways shut down. Now,  it’s partnering with WFAA here in Dallas to help give traffic updates.

Here’s what to expect as the bridges start coming down:

- The Joe Ratcliff Pedestrian bridge will be demolished at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10 and will be completely closed through midnight.

- Next is Montfort, which will closed at 9 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 17 until noon the next day.

The bridges will reopen but at reduced capacity and, at times, just to one lane. The demolition of Preston Road has not yet been scheduled. Sign up for updates via the LBJ Express website.

You won’t see construction on this section until closer to the end of the LBJ Express project, but they’re already presenting designs and soliciting feedback from neighbors about the proposed plan for the 635 and Dallas North Tollway interchange.

You can take a closer look at the project during an open house style public meeting 5-8 p.m. Tuesday at Sheraton Dallas North. The Federal Highway Administration, TxDOT and the LBJ Express project team will be on hand to answer questions.

The original plan was for the depressed managed lanes being built throughout the freeway to continue underneath the Tollway. Instead, the lanes will raise to the normal level when they reach this point.

“This essentially takes those managed lanes and elevates them up to the same level as the general purpose lanes,” says Andy Rittler of LBJ Infrastructure Group. “This keeps us from having to tear up the Dallas North Tollway.”

At Tuesday night’s meeting, officials also will present the noise study finding, which show no significant impact to nearby homes and businesses, Rittler says.

Starting Sept. 10, drivers will start to see the reconstruction of some major bridges – Joe Ratcliff, Rosser, Marsh and Montfort. Traffic will be reduced to one lane as they work on one side of each bridge at a time.

As the holidays approach in November, LBJ Express will limit its construction activity due to contractual agreements since the area sees increased traffic during that time.

The large crowd gradually thinned out during DART’s two-hour public meeting last night about the Cotton Belt Rail Line, but North Dallas folks stuck around until the bitter end. They were certainly the most vocal and for good reason.

The 26-mile Cotton Belt Corridor extends from DFW Airport to the Richardson/Plano border, passing right through Far North Dallas — about 30-50 feet from homeowners’ property lines along Campbell and Davenport. The rail line will be on a double track and run seven days a week.

The city of Dallas passed a resolution (known as the Natinsky plan) that called for the rail line to run in a below-grade trench through the North Dallas section, which roughly extends from Preston to Coit.

Closer studies revealed problems with water resources in that area, particularly the 100-year flood plain. The trench cannot dip below that water elevation line.

“The depth [of the trench] will vary. It will be shallower in some parts,” said John Hoppie, DART planning project manager.

Several neighbors asked the same question regarding the trenches before receiving a straight answer: in some areas of the North Dallas corridor, the trench may only be about 1 or 2 feet deep.

A sound wall, Hoppie said, will make up the rest of that space to help limit noise and vibration. But that wasn’t enough for neighbors whose yards back up to the rail line, and District 12 councilman Sandy Greyson made her response clear.

“A trench of 1 or 2 feet violates the spirit and understanding of the agreement we made with DART,” she said. “We are going to have to do a lot more talking about this.”

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The LBJ Freeway reconstruction project that began at Luna Road has reached our neighborhoods, affecting our daily commute. The Hillcrest bridge is coming down, and the visionary project is becoming more of a reality.

The next big thing: the 635 and Dallas North Tollway interchange. It’s so big, that the LBJ Express team is holding a public meeting, anticipating a large amount of input from neighbors on the freeway connection that has always been a headache.

The meeting is scheduled for 5-8 p.m. Aug. 16 at Sheraton Dallas North.

The meeting involves the Federal Highway Administration and TxDOT and will present design concepts and solicit feedback from residents and businesses along the LBJ Express Corridor. It’s an open house format, with no formal presentations. Neighbors can expect to see maps, videos, renderings and other project information on display. The public is encouraged to submit written comments.

Four longtime residents and community leaders gathered for a roundtable discussion to define our neighborhood once and for all.

The LBJ Express construction will start inching its way closer to our neighborhood with HOV lanes closing Friday, extending just east of Hillcrest. Crews previously closed HOV lanes between Luna and Midway.

The closures will prepare workers to reconstruct the Hillcrest bridge crossing following the same plan that happened at the Rosser and Joe Ratcliff pedestrian walkway.

You can stay up to date on all the latest information by signing up for alerts. They include not just construction updates but any traffic news related to LBJ.

City Council on Wednesday is expected to approve the Dallas Bike Plan. It’s a master plan intended to guide city officials in making transportation decisions.

The overall goal of the plan is to create a comprehensive bike system, increase commuter and utilitarian bike trips across the city, raise awareness and education about bicycle safety and create “complete streets”, which make room for cars, bikes, pedestrians and public transportation.

Dallas currently has almost 400 miles of bike routes, mostly in the city’s center, but there are virtually no bike lanes in the city. The bike plan aims to remedy that. It calls for increasing the number of shared-lane markings, bike lanes and paved shoulders to make the city more bike friendly.

Speaking of bike friendly, the plan calls for tapping into existing community organizations, such as the “bike friendly” groups to foster awareness and education.

The city has a very good trail system that is gaining new connections all the time, and the plan calls for continuing that work. But those trails aren’t always practical for bicycle commuters. Try getting to the grocery store on the Santa Fe Trail.

The plan states: “This system has been strategically designed to connect neighborhoods to transit, and to access destinations such as schools, event centers, museums and parks”

Some 1,400 Dallas residents responded to the city’s survey for the bike plan, and these are the top things they said they wanted:

• Education for all travelers though on-road signage and other techniques to instruct users how to share the road

• More bike lanes on major streets and shared lane markings on wide outside or curb lanes

• Stronger bike connections to transit

• Additional bike parking

Monday marked the beginning of an anticipated influx of accidents involving teen drivers in North Texas. That’s according to a study by Allstate Insurance, finding that most car accidents involving teens happen between now and Labor Day.

We can infer that it’s probably because more teenagers are on the road more often since school is out for the summer. More family vacations, etc. No one can identify exactly why, but it’s probably alarmist and unnecessary to refer to it as the “100 deadliest days” as other media have.

But the study also found that the most dangerous road for teens to drive on in North Texas is, yes, our lovely LBJ Freeway. Over five years, there were 1,489 crashes. I-35 had 1,162 and 75 in Collin County came in third with 943.

We can perhaps attribute LBJ’s danger factor to the congestion, which will hopefully be alleviated in the next five years after the LBJ Express is complete.

By the way, lane closures this week include the eastbound frontage lane between Hillcrest and Park Central and westbound frontage road from Coit to Montfort among several other busy exits.