It appears that 2011 will indeed see the start of this 17-mile-long, $3.2 billion project.

If neighbors weren’t paying attention to the massive LBJ reconstruction project before, they certainly are now. Trees are coming down all along the corridor to make way for utilities.

“This is happening. The coming down of trees signifies the beginning,” says Andy Rittler of LBJ Infrastructure, the company overseeing the project.

The project is in the tree removal stage until early March, and the evidence can be seen, particularly on the stretch between Preston and Hillcrest. We’ve been covering the story here on the blog and recently conducted a podcast with Rittler who commented about the impending tree removals. You can listen to it here.

“Drivers will certainly notice a difference, and the tree and brush removal will show how this project will expand the actual pavement,” Rittler says.

He assures that his team is not allowed to go into the neighborhoods – whether for tree removals or any other part of the construction process. You’ll see the effects mostly on frontage roads.

Despite efforts to keep an open dialogue with residents, offering several ways to stay updated on the progress, Rittler says the concern over tree removal has attracted more attention to the project that will transform the freeway as we know it. For details on the project, see my previous post or visit lbjexpress.com. There, you can see specific dates and times of lane closure, which also indicates where we’ll see more trees come out.

“There’s really nothing we can do about it,” Rittler says, “because we have to have those gas lines, electrical lines and water lines.”

Yes, every major school district in the Dallas area is closed and people are crashing their cars and jackknifing their 18-wheelers all over Dallas area highways and roads. That’s bad—I’m watching it unfold on TV.

Evidently, public transportation has also shut down for now. You seldom hear of this happening, but DART has suspended its service this morning. Say DART officials via a press release, “The timing, speed and intensity of the ice storm is affecting our ability to prevent ice buildup and restore service.”

The massive reconstruction of LBJ Freeway has been on the books since 1987. Now, with the groundbreaking just a few months away, questions about how the five-year project might affect specific areas of our neighborhood went mostly unanswered during a town-hall meeting Tuesday night at W.T. White High School.

It’s just too early to tell, according to Andy Rittler of LBJ Infrastructure Group, the developer overseeing the LBJ Express, and Lara Kohl of Trinity Infrastructure, a contractor for the project. But here’s what we do know:

-The project stretches first from Loop 12 to the I-35 split and then continues east on LBJ from Luna to Greenville.

-To avoid the environmental impact of widening the freeway or constructing overpasses, the thrust of the project involves building four to six new lanes beneath LBJ. They will be managed toll lanes with a guaranteed speed of at least 50 miles per hour. As more cars enter, and traffic slows down, the fee will increase.

-The additional lanes will have limited exits, reserved mostly for thru-traffic and long commuters such as a driver headed to DFW Airport from Garland.

-Construction will take place overnight, and at least four lanes will remain open at all times. Crews also are not allowed to close two consecutive exits. So, if your exit is blocked for construction, you’ll always be able to take the next one.

-The $2.7 billion project is funded by a comprehensive development agreement — a public-private partnership. TxDOT owns the project, contributing $490 million. LBJ Infrastructure has privately financed the rest through loans and is responsible for building and maintaining the roadway.

-When complete in 2016, LBJ will double in capacity.

Kohl says there will be no official detours that take motorists through residential neighborhoods. Several neighbors expressed concern about Harvest Hill, a road that already endures speeding cars despite the presence of schools, churches and homes. Also problem areas — Welch and Rosser, and the back-to-back exits at Midway and Marsh that always seem to clog up the streets.

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Now that the Dallas North Tollway has gone cashless, construction has begun on removing all the toll booths along the freeway. Crews have been working in Plano but will make their way down to the Keller Springs exit this weekend.

Take an alternate route if you have to go that way on Saturday or Sunday, because the construction will affect lanes in both directions from Keller Springs down to Belt Line. Everything should be back to normal by Monday.

If you haven’t already seen it, the City of Dallas has posted a detailed YouTube video (below) that gives you a virtual view of what it will be like driving on LBJ after the expansion process ends in 2016. The video arrives at the LBJ and I-35 merger after about 60 seconds. And it’s all set to soothing, lullaby music – if only that’s what it was really like driving on that freeway today.

But it’s finally approaching – construction is set to begin in January, adding 13 miles of new HOV lanes. When built in 1969, LBJ was designed to carry only 180,000 cars a day, and now carries at least 270,000. For a bit more history on the project, check out this Advocate article.

Do our trails need speed limits? That was a question posed last week on NBC 5’s newscast. A White Rock area resident about whom we’ve written on the East Dallas and Lake Highlands blogs a time or two, Ted Barker, has been talking about this for years. One of Barker’s major causes is implementing speed limits for cyclists on trails such as White Rock and Katy Trail. It doesn’t seem that Dallas officials were big on his idea of 10 mph speed limits. “It just isn’t logical,” the former deputy chief of the Northeast Division told me when I chatted with him about it. But following a death on the Katy Trail, and a couple publicized accidents at White Rock Trail, the city’s collective attitude could conceivably change. City Councilman Angela Hunt, in this story, expresses concern and speaks of the arguably illogical 10-mph limit on Dallas trails. And when Angela speaks, people tend to listen. Me? I truly wish we could police ourselves on the trails, but perhaps that’s too much to ask.

If you’re traveling near Renner Road and I-75 on Wednesday, expect some delays. The City of Richardson will be repairing a water line, which will close the westbound lanes of Renner between Central and Alma.

The work will continue through Saturday. It was previously scheduled to begin over the weekend but was delayed after another water line broke in Plano.

Just a few more hours until Labor Day weekend commences, so by all means, crack open a cold one when the work day ends, but if you’re tipsy, stay off the road.

For starters, you can avoid murdering innocent people or yourself. In addition, you can avoid going to jail and the life-changing consequences that go along with DWI convictions these days.

Beginning today at 6 p.m, the Dallas Police will initiate the no-refusal practice throughout the weekend. That means if you are arrested for DWI and refuse to voluntarily provide a breath or blood sample, the arresting officer will secure a search warrant and direct health care professionals to obtain a blood sample and have it forwarded to the District Attorney’s office for filing.

Drink, drive, go to jail, buddy. If you get caught, there’s no getting out of it. And while no time’s a good time to sit in Lew’s Sterrett jailhouse, Texas-OU weekend, Memorial Day weekend, Labor Day weekends and the like (So I’ve heard) are particularly overcrowded and uncomfortable … and that’s just the beginning of your troubles.

That’s according to a new report by the Texas Department of Transportation, which ranks the top 100 most congested roadways in the state. I knew LBJ was the worst in Dallas, but I was a little surprised to see that it beat out Woodall Rogers.

I’m sure nearby residents who have to use LBJ every day would agree with the study. It’s one of the few roads in our region that is constantly congested – not just during rush hour. But what’s interesting, is that researchers measured not how clogged the roads are at any give time but how slow traffic actually moves. Slower traffic equals more congestion.

Come to think of it, I’ve never seen any other highway where people actually slow down while entering the on-ramp – even when the roads are clear. Maybe that says something about the drivers more so than the design of the freeway.

At any rate, hopefully things will clear up after LBJ is rebuilt, widening the lanes and adding larger frontage roads.

Here’s an interesting juxtaposition of headlines from this morning’s DMN:

“Natural gas taxis going to the front of the line at Love Field.”

“Solo drivers may be able to buy way onto Dallas HOV lanes.”

On the one hand, our government leaders are busting the chops of small, individual-owned taxis by requiring them to purchase a natural-gas fueled vehicle in order to get priority at the airport. The reason: Improved air quality from the few natural-gas cabs that will be converted, probably primarily by large corporations with available funds.

And on the other hand, our government leaders are willing to sell off what were originally billed as traffic- and pollution-busting high-occupancy-vehicle lanes to the highest bidders. Potentially, if you’re willing to pay a higher price to ride in the HOV lanes, you won’t need another person in the car. Another “innovation” in the works, thanks to cash-strapped DART: If the HOVs will be clogged with single-occupancy vehicles, then the number of regular HOV people required to ride for free in the HOVs is going to increase from two to three or four to reduce the number of those drivers in the lanes.

So we’re beating up on small taxi owners at Love Field in the name of cleaning up the air, but we’re selling off the “clean-air” HOV lanes to anyone willing to pay, particularly solo drivers who naturally pollute more.

Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?

Maybe it was just me, but whether on the freeway or neighborhood roads, motorcyclists seemed to be out in large numbers this past weekend in Far North Dallas. They weren’t out in groups really, I just saw individuals weaving in and out of traffic – a lot.

Driving north on Central, one guy wasn’t even using his own lane. He was whizzing by and squeezing in between cars. I was going about 65 miles per hour, and he flashed past my window in a blur. Another one on Hillcrest was tailgating me pretty bad.

Personally, I have nothing against motorcyclists, but it’s kind of scary the watch those who go 90 mph with no helmet, refusing to let any car slow them down. And this morning, the DMN reported this sad accident. I’m not saying recklessness had anything to with it (although the story points to speeding as the cause), but it’s a coincidence and a good reminder that bikers aren’t invincible.