Addison Airport Toll Tunnel

The Addison Airport Toll Tunnel (abbreviated AATT) is a road tunnel in Addison, Texas, that carries Keller Springs Road underneath Addison Airport. The tunnel is operated by the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) and uses open road tolling through NTTA's TollTag system.

Gantry building with lanes labeled for full-service, exact change, and electronic tolling

Toll plaza in 2008

The tunnel connects the western and eastern barrier roads of Addison Airport (Midway Road and Addison Road, respectively). This provides a through passage between Dallas North Tollway and Interstate 35E, reducing traffic on Belt Line Road and Trinity Mills Road.

The tunnel proper is Template:Convert long, while the entire roadway is Template:Convert long. Tolls are collected at a plaza on the west side of the roadway. Template:As of, two-axle vehicles are charged $0.74 if paying via electronic toll collection or $1.48 if paying by mail invoice; this price increases for each additional axle.

History

Construction of an airport in the newly incorporated town of Addison was proposed in 1956.Template:Sfn However, the planned Template:Convert long primary north-south runway would sever Keller Springs Road, a controversial proposal requiring negotiations with the Dallas County Commissioner's Court and city officials.Template:Sfn After obtaining final approval, Addison Airport had its formal groundbreaking ceremony on March 16, 1957,Template:Sfn the section of road crossing the runway was demolished, and the airport opened later that year.Template:Sfn

Until 1969, motorists could drive directly east-west around the north side of the airport on Westgrove Road, which connected Dooley Road to Addison Road. However, the runway was then extended northwards to Template:Convert total length, and Westgrove Road was realigned to curve north and terminate at Trinity Mills Road rather than intersecting with Dooley Road; this made Trinity Mills the closest continuous east-west thoroughfare north of Belt Line, with a roughly Template:Convert gap. Traffic on Belt Line Road later started to surpass its design capacity by 10,000 vehicles per day, and in 1984, Addison city manager Ron Whitehead began calling for the two sections of Keller Springs Road to be reconnected to relieve the traffic congestion.Template:Sfn

A blue sign with a stylized "A" logo and the name of the tunnel.

Original signage

In 1991, the Texas Turnpike Authority (NTTA's predecessor) conducted a preliminary study for a tunnel connecting the segments. The study proposed a 75¢ toll and predicted that such a toll would raise $4.7 million per year, and Dallas County voters approved $3 million in bonds to fund the project.Template:Sfn Dallas County contributed $3 million to purchase the right-of-way, but the project did not proceed further due to high cost.

In 1995, the project was revisited and approved. The tunnel was budgeted at $26.8 million, and the planned toll rate was reduced to 50¢.Template:Sfn Tunneling work began in September 1997. The tunnel was mined through the Austin Chalk underlying the airport by a roadheader, a large rock cutting machine that was nicknamed "Big Mike," at a rate of Template:Convert per day.Template:Sfn The tunnel was completed and opened to the public on February 18, 1999.Template:Sfn Within a year, daily traffic through the tunnel exceeded 10,000 vehicles.Template:Sfn

In 2007, NTTA announced the removal of its toll booths (both manned and coin-operated) at all of its facilities by 2010 in favor of a pay-by-mail system. AATT's toll booths were removed in 2009.

External links

• Addison Airport Toll Tunnel
• North Texas Tollway Authority
• Addison Airport Toll Tunnel - Schnabel Engineering