DESIGN OF OUR TIMES / DRIVING HIGH IN DALLAS

The High Five interchange, with its decorative etchings on precast concrete elements, along with the visually appealing coloration specified by the Texas Department of Transportation can be regarded as an enormous work of public art.

The Dallas High Five Interchange is one of the first five-level stack (100 ft. tall) interchanges in the U.S. Located in Dallas, TX at the junction of the Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway and the Central Expressway (US Highway 75), it replaces an antiquated partial cloverleaf interchange constructed in the 1960s. 

Designed by the HNTB Corp., the $261 million project started in 2002 and was completed in December 2005, and is considered to be one of "The World's 18 Strangest Roadways" because of its height (as high as a 12-story building), its 43 permanent bridges and other unusual design and construction features. 

Construction was by Zachry Construction Corp., the state's largest road and bridge builder. In 2006, the American Public Works Association named the High Five Interchange as "Public Works Projects of the Year". 

The roads on the five levels are: 

 --Level I: US 75, a six-lane highway, three lanes going each way 

--Level II: The junction of the two six-lane frontage roads, each having three through lanes in each direction, left-turn lanes, and turnarounds, and easy access to US 75 and I-635 

--Level III: I-635, ten regular lanes, five going each way, and four HOV lanes (two going each way) separated by barriers 

--Levels IV and V: Direct connection ramps (two levels), eliminating the left exits of the modified cloverleaf The High Five interchange, with its decorative etchings on precast concrete elements, along with the visually appealing coloration specified by the Texas Department of Transportation can be regarded as an enormous work of public art. 

The High Five also incorporates a hiking and bike trail, named the Cottonwood Trail, which runs under all levels of the interchange. The section of the trail passing beneath the interchange was constructed as part of the High Five project.