The North Texas Tollway Authority is continuing to expand the Dallas North Tollway toward the Denton County line with full toll lanes.
That phase of the project north to FM 428 is on schedule for completion in 2027, NTTA Project Communications Manager Brian SanFilippo said to the Pilot Point Chamber of Commerce on April 16.
'It's been going more vertical these days, making a lot of progress, marching toward that finish late next year,' he said. 'Hopefully that makes a difference for you.'
Senior Manager of Engineering Rachel Kulhavy spoke about the work her team is doing on the DNT expansion.
'I love these photos because these were only taken probably a month ago, and they're already out of date,' she said.
That's because the project's contractor, Mario Sinacola, has been cranking out concrete for the crawl north.
'We're going to extend the paid lanes 6.5 miles from U.S. 380 to 428,' she said.
She added that so much prog- ress has been made through the Doe Creek Branch area that the crews have to be fastidious about the barricades.
'It almost looks like you can drive on it,' she said.
More bridge decks are set to go up throughout 2026 as well as wall work.
Once that section is complete, Phase 4B will pick up at 428 and continue to the Grayson County line.
'We will be starting our environmental process for the main lane extension from 428,' Kulhavy said. 'We should be starting that within the next two years, so you can probably expect construction to start on Phase 4B within the next five years or so.'
SanFilippo helped explain a bit about the organization's history as well as the projects it manages.
'We're founded in 1997,' he said. 'There were some legislators in the area that saw growth coming. They knew they needed to keep toll dollars in our region for projects here in North Texas, because … prior to NTTA, our toll dollars were either going to Austin or Washington, D.C., and then there's no guarantee that's coming back to help our projects here.'
He added that the NTTA is 'self-funding, self-sustaining,' not funded by the state.
The NTTA maintains the 360 Tollway, the Addison Airport Toll Tunnel, the Chisholm Trail Parkway, the Lewisville Lake Toll Bridge, the Mountain Creek Lake Bridge, the President George Bush Turnpike and the Sam Rayburn Tollway in addition to the DNT.
It also handles the payment processing of the managed lanes with dynamic pricing in the area, although those are not priced by or serviced by NTTA.
All NTTA lanes have standard pricing throughout the system.
The system data shows how often those roads are used.
'It's about 3.2 million transactions across the entire system [daily],' San-Filippo said. 'It comes out to about 15.3 million customers per year.'
The projects NTTA focuses on are largely northsouth routes, and it works to plan its projects through cooperation with county governments, the Regional Transportation Council and the North Texas Council of Governments.
'We want to make sure that we're advancing as a partner in the region,' San-Filippo said.
With the roadways being funded by the drivers who use them, customer service is a key focus for NTTA, San-Filippo said.
'We understand that driving on our roads is a choice, so unless you choose to drive on the roads, you're not paying for them,' San-Filippo said. 'So we have to make sure that those that do use the roads are getting a high quality and safe experience.'
That includes providing roadside assistance on the tollway, including with a flat tire or an empty gas tank, but that assistance is not an allyou can-eat buffet.
'I always have to put a disclaimer on the gas,' he said. 'They keep a list, so you can't call every single day and get gas. I think they once had somebody call twice in one day. We can help you with a tow, but we don't have any more gas for you.'
