Excavation Has Begun

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For some reason lately … I’ve felt compelled to document the construction progress of the George Bush Turnpike (PGBT) Eastern Extension at I-30 (Section 32). This project also includes the one-mile direct-connect bridge across Lake Ray Hubbard between Rowlett and Garland. For one … I live right next door to it and it’s going to go right through my house in it’s next phase across I-30 … also know as The East Branch. Second … I’ve heard stories about it being built my entire life and have imagined what it would look like just as long. And mostly … because I find myself fascinated by what things used to look like before someone decided to build something in whatever place I might be in at the moment.

I think the fascination started when I was a kid. I’ve lived near Lake Ray Hubbard my entire life and I remember my parents telling me what it used to look like before it was a lake. I’ve never been able to find photos of it in those days … and I still find myself day-dreaming about what it might have looked like when I drive over it or while sitting in the middle of it on our boat. So if anyone reads this and has or knows of photos … I want to see them!

I will probably post updates every few months or whenever I notice a big change. These probably won’t be the most amazing photos I’ve ever photographed … but they’ll get the job done. For those of you that don’t know the PGBT currently ends in North Garland at Highway 78 near the Firewheel mall. Once the eastern extension is completed it will pass through Sachse, Rowlett and back into far South Garland and Sunnyvale. The detailed schematics for the entire project can be viewed in a PDF file and is available at the NTTA Web site here. The two sections I’m documenting can be found on pages 5 and 6.

Unfortunately … I didn’t start photographing the area before demolition started about three to four months ago. So I’ll be using a some imagery from Google Earth and Street View to show what the place looked like beforehand.

Photos were taken at red dots.

Looking North across Interstate 30 (before)

Looking North across Interstate 30 (after)

Lakeway Forest Entrance (before)

Lakeway Forest Entrance (after)

Parking Lot (before)

Parking Lot (after)

Lakeway Forest Property (before)

Lakeway Forest Property (after)

A few remaining apartment buildings in the background.

Notice the tree (red circle)

Here’s the tree now.

Zion Road – Looking South (before)

Zion Road – Looking East (before)

Zion Road – Looking North (before)

Looking south towards Zion Road (after). The road is now closed. Two large lake-front homes and
six homes across the street were torn down to make way for the one-mile bridge.

This is my first official before photo. The one mile bridge over the lake will eventually make its way in to this photo.