the tindog coffeehouse

I travel through the infamous Grapevine Funnel every day to and from work, and it’s the main reason I try to come in early and leave early. Hit the area just a little too late, and your daily commute goes from slow and tedious to simply painful. Throw in a minor fender-bender, and it’s enough to force you to do a U-turn and spend the rest of the day trembling beneath the sheets.

Aptly named, the Funnel is the area north of DFW Airport where seven different highways converge, a pretty good design if it weren’t for the roughly half million cars that pass through it five days a week. (Really, it must be more than that.)

There have been plans for years to reconstruct the area with additional lanes (including some toll lanes) and a better design. We were told it would take years to complete (up to 10 years by some estimates) and that it would get worse before it gets better.

Now it looks like it may just get worse.

Having done nothing so far, now the costs of construction are a reported $1 billion (up from $400 million in 2000), which has some people wondering if the project is too expensive to complete as designed.

Money, however, is not a deciding factor in this case. The Funnel provides a critical northern link between Tarrant and Dallas counties, and as the population of the Metroplex continues to grow, something must be done to relieve the pressure from all the cars that swarm the highways each morning and evening. Even if that something runs into the billions.

I’ve always had a strong dislike of toll roads, and this is no exception. But honestly, there are days I would happily fork over the extra cash just to relieve some of the stress of dealing with an already-long commute.

I’m sure there are many others who feel the same way.