ARLINGTON — North Texas is already benefiting from Super Bowl XLV, even though the big game at Cowboys Stadium is still three weeks away.
If you commute between Dallas and Fort Worth, you can thank the Super Bowl for a speedier drive. But there's a lot more going on — improvements you may not have even realized.
If you drive through or around Arlington, you'll benefit from the legacy of Super Bowl improvements for years to come.
More than 100,000 drivers a day zip down new lanes on Interstate 30 because Arlington is hosting the Super Bowl this year — and not five or 10 years from now.
All lanes and three new bridges are now open on I-30 near the stadium.
"We used the Super Bowl has an excuse to get them done on time," said Michael Morris, director of transportation for the North Central Texas Council of Governments. "But a lot of people misunderstand and think those projects were funded for Cowboys Stadium, and because of the Super Bowl."
But that's not the case, Morris said. "We haven't taken on any major capital projects because of the Super Bowl."
But because of the game, a lot of planned work — from road repair to traffic signals to landscaping — is getting done sooner rather than later.
Meanwhile, on Drummond Avenue in Arlington, Joe McDaniel and more than a dozen of his neighbors are receiving thousands of dollars in free major home improvements.
It's all courtesy of a charity called Rebuilding Together, which works with the NFL and host cities to revitalize one community per Super Bowl.
"It's a wonderful thing that's happening," McDaniel said, who wouldn't trade the work for a front-row seat at Cowboys Stadium. "It means the world to me, me and my wife. We've lived here since 1957, so we needed some of this stuff done."
And workers needed the jobs.
"It's a blessing to us, because it's a slow time of year for us," said Lee Dampier. "Not only that, it makes us feel good to do this type of work to help people out."
There are still a lot of orange barrels on Copeland Road near the stadium. That repaving job is scheduled to be completed before Super Bowl XLV kicks off.
E-mail jdouglas@wfaa.com
