E-Mail Us
Districts, Divisions, Offices I'm not sure Audit Aviation Bridge Construction Design Environmental Affairs Finance General Counsel General Services Government and Public Affairs Human Resources International Relations Maintenance Motor Carrier Occupational Safety Office of Civil Rights Public Transportation Research and Technology Implementation Right of Way Technology Services Texas Turnpike Authority Traffic Operations Transportation Planning and Programming Travel Information TxDOT Administration Texas Transportation Commission Abilene Amarillo Atlanta Austin Beaumont Brownwood Bryan Childress Corpus Christi Dallas El Paso Fort Worth Houston Laredo Lubbock Lufkin Odessa Paris Pharr San Angelo San Antonio Tyler Waco Wichita Falls Yoakum Web Administrator

Kell Freeway US 82/US 277 through Wichita Falls, just like the Elevated portion of US 287, was envisioned in the 1960's. Kell was first identified as a future need in the 1964 Wichita Falls Urban Transportation Plan.

Plan work started in the late 60's. In 1967 the City of Wichita Falls held a bond election to pay for half of the $6 Million needed to buy right of way. During the 70's the frontage roads were built, but construction on Phase 1 of the freeway didn't start until December 1985.

The first portion of Kell was constructed from Kemp to Harrison Street and was completed in December 1988. Phase 2 was started in November 1987 and wrapped up in July 1990, strethcing from Harrison Street to Holliday Street. It took more than a decade for the dirt to start flying again on Kell Freeway. In January 2001, Phase 3 was let and the contract awarded to J.L. Steel Inc. to continue the highway from Kemp Street to just West of Fairway Boulevard.

Work on Phase 3 began in March 2001 and included six bridges for overpasses at Lebanon Road, McNeil Avenue, and Fairway Boulevard. It opened for traffic March 13, 2003.

Future Phases

There are two more sections of Kell Freeway to be built before it is finished. Phase 4 will start west of Fairway Boulevard and end at Southwest Parkway (FM369) on the west side of Wichita Falls. Phase 5 is the direct connect interchange for Kell Freeway with the Elevated (US 287/281).

Construction on Phase 4 (Kell West) began in February 2008 and will include six bridges for the overpasses at Barnett Road, Allendale Road and Southwest Parkway, with the option to expand to three lanes. The project was awarded to Austin Bridge and Road, will cost an estimated $ 28.8 million to complete the 3.5-mile project and is expected to take two years to complete.

Work on Phase 5 (Falls Flyover) began in November 2005 and takes place on the far east end of Kell Freeway and consists of building four interchange ramps to get traffic between US 287/281 and US 82/277. Zachry Construction is working on the $32.2 million Flyover, which was named after 700 potential titles were submitted. Three ramps were opened in November 2007, although a design error prevented the fourth bridge from being completed. The reconstruction on the bridge will begin in early 2009.