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Get Ready Plano, Frisco: A Full Closure Of The Dallas North Tollway Is On For This Weekend

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The northern bridge of the Tennyson Parkway will be demolished, causing full closures of the tollway this weekend.

Five stories that have North Texas talking: Denton and Collin county drivers will face tollway spillover traffic and delays this weekend; meet the musical descendant of Davy Crockett; Richardson has a bobcat problem; and more.

All main lanes of the Dallas North Tollway between State Highway 121 and Spring Creek Parkway will be closed beginning 11 p.m. this Friday until 5 a.m. on Monday. The tollway is being expanded to four lanes in each direction. This weekend, crews will be demolishing a portion of the bridge at Tennyson Parkway, which will later be rebuilt, to continue the expansion, according to North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA). The full tollway closure will allow crews to begin demolition safely and work more quickly without the need to accommodate cars.

The Tennyson Parkway, itself, will be partially open to traffic. Demolition will take place on the northern bridge while the southern bridge will be open and operational, NTTA said. Also, Dallas Parkway will be open, but anticipate delays.

 

Here’s everything that will be closed through early Monday morning:

 

  • All northbound lanes of the DNT from the Spring Creek Parkway exit to the Headquarters Drive entrance ramp

  • All southbound lanes of the DNT from Gaylord Parkway to the Spring Creek Parkway entrance ramp

  • The east- and westbound direct-connector ramps from the Sam Rayburn to southbound DNT

  • The northbound DNT direct-connector ramp to east- and westbound SRT

  • The northbound entrance ramp from Spring Creek Parkway

  • The northbound exit ramps at Legacy and Headquarters Drive

  • The southbound entrance ramps from Gaylord Parkway, SH 121 and Legacy Drive

  • The southbound exit ramps to Legacy Drive and Spring Creek Parkway

Got that? If you need more details, here’s a map, and police officers will be helping with traffic control. [NTTA]

  • A musical descendant of Davy Crockett performed three songs for the latest KXT 91.7 Live Session. Charley Crockett, a native of San Benito, blends musical genres from the myriad places he’s lived: Texas swing, Louisiana blues and R&B. When KXT talked with Crockett last month, he said Dallas gave him a hard time growing up with a single mother, and he had to leave town before he really learned to play music. “That being said, a lot of important things happened in Dallas for me. The first place I ever played was at The Balcony Club when the stage was still by the door.  The first real gig I ever got was at the Winedale Tavern. I’d hang around at the campfire jam at Sons Of Hermann Hall and busk around Deep Ellum when I was a teenager.” If you missed Crockett’s “In The Night” album release show last Saturday at the Granada Theater, he’s playing KXT Sun Sets on Thursday, July 28. [KXT]

Watch his title-track performance:

  • The residents of Canyon Creek neighborhood in Richardson will meet next week to determine a better solution for the ongoing bobcat problem. Several small domestic dogs have been attacked since March, and five bobcats have been trapped since then, but activity flared up again last month, according to KRLD. Bonnie Bradshaw, president of 911 Wildlife, says residents need to learn safer ways of dealing with the animals — a neighbor was apparently wielding a handgun hunting for the predators —  as well as better pet ownership. KRLD reported: “Bradshaw and other homeowners will discuss ways of keeping small pets safe, as well as techniques for scaring bobcats away.” Read more. [KRLD]

  • Big Charles Young, a South Dallas blues legend, died last week at age 69. Although Young was introduced to the blues before his teen years, he didn’t start singing until the late ‘90s because his grandmother, who raised him, had forbidden him to play or sing that kind of music, KERA’s Jerome Weeks reported. His first record, “His Old Lady”, was produced in 2008, but Young’s health never really permitted him to tour much. He suffered a pancreatic attack in 2009. “In later years, he had to lean on the edge of the stage or sit on a chair to sing — although he’d always shake his hips during ‘The Big Charles Swing’ (especially for the lines, ‘You all want to see Big Charles move what he got? Just watch me move all of this’)”. Read more about Young’s life. [Art&Seek]