TxDOT seeks public input on I-35 future, survey open through May 6

Collin County drivers now have a say in how one of Texas’ most important highways is planned over the next 25 years, with TxDOT’s I-35 Texas Corridor Study survey open through May 6.

The Texas Department of Transportation opened the survey April 6 as part of “I-35 Texas Corridor Study: A Path to 2050,” a statewide effort that stretches from Laredo to the Texas-Oklahoma border and covers roughly 590 miles of the interstate. TxDOT calls I-35 “The Main Street of Texas,” and says nearly half of Texas’ population lives and works along the corridor.

For North Texas, the stakes are immediate. The North Central Texas Council of Governments says the Dallas-Fort Worth region sits at the crossroads of four major interstate highways, I-20, I-30, I-35 and I-45, making the area a central freight and travel hub. NCTCOG also says North Texas functions as a primary distribution center or inland port, with trucks able to reach much of the country within 72 hours.

That matters in Collin County even for drivers who do not spend much time on I-35 itself. Traffic diversion, delivery routes and pressure on connecting roads can ripple across local commutes, especially as communities north of Dallas keep growing. NCTCOG says the North Texas population is more than 7 million and is expected to top 11 million by 2045, a pace that adds urgency to every corridor decision tied to mobility, freight movement and safety.

TxDOT said it wants feedback on current and future mobility challenges, with a specific interest in identifying transportation gaps and possible solutions along the corridor. That could influence a wide range of future decisions, from added capacity and interchange design to safety improvements, frontage-road changes and possible multimodal access. The point of the survey is not to choose one construction project now, but to help determine what kinds of improvements should rise to the top as the corridor plan takes shape.

Collin County has framed its own transportation mission in similar terms, saying it aims to alleviate congestion and move people and goods efficiently. County mobility planning has involved 31 local governments, Dallas Area Rapid Transit and NCTCOG, underscoring how closely the local and regional systems are tied to the future of I-35.

TxDOT’s corridor study is one of the largest transportation-planning efforts in Texas, and the choices made through it could guide where state dollars go for years. For Collin County, the survey is a chance to weigh in before those priorities harden into the next generation of highway decisions.