Texas State Highway 360

Route description

SH 360 begins as a two-lane road at its southern terminus at US 287 in Mansfield, near the Ellis-Johnson county line. North of its intersection with US 287, SH 360 expands into a pair of two-lane frontage roads, which continue north for another seven miles to the Tarrant-Ellis county line. In southwest Grand Prairie, SH 360 becomes a freeway at an intersection with Sublett Road/Camp Wisdom Road.

From there, the freeway proceeds north through Arlington near its boundary with Grand Prairie, where it SH 360 interchanges with Interstate 20 and then meets Interstate 30. However, SH 360 and Interstate 30 are not directly connected. As a legacy of the original toll road design of Interstate 30 (formerly the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike), the highways connect only indirectly using long access roads that cross surface streets at lighted intersections.

From Interstate 30, SH 360 then continues north beyond Arlington, interchanging with State Highway 183 near Euless. From the SH 183 interchange, the freeway continues north-northwest through Euless and into Grapevine, following the western boundary of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. SH 360 terminates at its northern end with an interchange with State Highway 121 in Grapevine.

History

SH 360 was constructed in different stages over the course of several decades. For the most part, each section's frontage roads were built first, handling all of the traffic years before the actual freeway portion was completed (or even begun). Similarly, the interchanges at Interstate 20, Interstate 30, and Highway 183 were in place long before the freeway lanes were completed.

The indirect interchange between SH 360 and Interstate 30 is a holdover from when that freeway was tolled. In order to direct traffic through toll booths, the interchange was designed so that any traffic moving from one freeway to the other was routed through one common, bi-directional ramp. This was a cost-saving measure as it required fewer toll booths. The toll booths were removed in 1977, but the complex access road system remained.

South of SH 183, SH 360 was previously known as Watson Road. The segment through Arlington is also officially designated as the "Angus G. Wynne Freeway" (after the founder of Six Flags); however, neither the official designation nor the older Watson Road name are locally used, the road is generally called "360".

SH 360 / Interstate 30 interchange

The interchange between SH 360 and Interstate 30 in Arlington has become a major bottleneck, compounded by the fact that it intersects with surface streets, and is near major tourist attractions including Six Flags Over Texas and AT&T Stadium. In November 2014, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) announced that it would be conducting an environmental study on a potential $200 million rebuild of the interchange. The rebuild would offer direct connections between SH 360 and Interstate 30 for the first time. In March 2015, TxDOT approved spending $254 million on the interchange project, which will also include improvements to nearby Six Flags Drive. Ground broke on March 2, 2016 and is scheduled to be completed in 2020 at the cost of $233 million.

SH 360 South freeway construction

The southernmost 9.7-mile (15.6 km) segment of SH 360, from south of Interstate 20 in Arlington to US 287 in Mansfield, was built between 1994 and 2003 as a pair of separated frontage roads, with space reserved between them for main freeway lanes to be added to meet future traffic needs. As traffic along the corridor has grown, the SH 360 frontage lanes became increasingly congested. Local and state leaders investigated building out southern SH 360 as a freeway between the existing frontage roads, a project that became known as "360 South".

On January 25, 2013, TxDOT and the North Texas Tollway Authority approved a deal to build out the 360 South freeway as a toll road, with TxDOT performing the design and construction and the NTTA managing the completed freeway as part of its tollway system. A ceremonial groundbreaking for construction of the 360 South toll road was held on October 21, 2015. The first phase of the project, which will create two grade-separated toll lanes in each direction, will cost $330 million. In the future, the toll road may be expanded to four lanes in each direction.

Proposed extension to Venus

The NTTA's future plans for SH 360 include a further 5.5-mile (8.9 km) extension of the toll road, which would run from the current SH 360 southern terminus in Mansfield to US 67 in Venus.

Major intersections

All exits are unnumbered.