The possible expansion of the I-820 and SH 121/SH 183 corridor connecting Fort Worth and Dallas dates back to the 1980s when the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG)-the region's metropolitan planning organization-included it in its long-range planning process. In the early 1990s, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) completed environmental review and preliminary design for these improvements which would add new general purpose lanes to the highway corridor.
Later in the mid-1990s, TxDOT modified the project by proposing to operate the new lanes on a high occupancy vehicle (HOV) basis, carrying only automobiles with more than one person. This change was made to help the region achieve air quality requirements mandating that pollutants be below certain levels. However, the project stalled in the latter half of the decade when it became clear that traditional pay-as-you-go funding from gas-tax collections would be insufficient to complete the widening in a timely fashion.
Planning and design were revived in the early 2000s as Texas began to explore new ways to finance and procure transportation improvements in the face of insufficient pay-as-you-go revenues. Initially reversible HOV lanes were considered, but later the concept of tolled managed lanes was proposed to provide an ongoing revenue source against which a portion of the project's costs could be bonded. In addition, this strategy would provide adequate funding to add two managed lanes in each direction and accommodate growing traffic demand in both directions.