Texas State Highway 310


State Highway 310 is a short north-south state highway entirely within Dallas, Texas. It is a portion of the old route of U.S. Highway 75 along the South Central Expressway, which now ends in downtown Dallas, in the southeastern part of Dallas that Interstate 45 and U.S. Highway 175 did not wholly supplant altogether.

Route description

Its northern terminus is US 175; its southern terminus is Interstate 45. The northern section is a freeway to Overton Road, just south of the Trinity River bridge, and a surface street from there to its southern terminus. The southbound bridge is the original simple steel girder bridge from abutment to abutment while the northbound is newer and largely precast concrete - the only steel girders are the longer spans directly over the river. The southbound bridge was repainted by CEKRA for TxDOT in late 2015.
SH 310 north of Loop 12 was co-named the S.M. Wright Freeway after a local minister. It is technically also referred to as Central Expressway, as the original US 75 was given this name. In practice, Dallasites refer to the current US 75 as Central Expressway and the decommissioned US 75 as the S.M. Wright Freeway.
Through southern Dallas, Interstate 45 has replaced State Highway 310 as a through route. However, as I-45 is completely elevated between downtown and the Trinity River, during freezing rain events it is virtually impassable, whereupon it is closed and traffic is diverted onto State Highway 310.

History

An earlier SH 310 was designated on February 20, 1939 from SH 29 to the Lockhart Recreation Center. On September 26, 1939, SH 310 was cancelled and transferred to PR 10. The current SH 310 was designated on January 28, 1987, replacing part of US 75 from US 175 south to I-45. On April 29, 2013, SH 310 extended north from US 175 to I-45, replacing part of US 175, which was designated to be rerouted on a more direct route west to I-45. The rerouting of US 175 is currently under construction.

Major intersections