City hears public‑works briefing on congestion, temporary signals at Denton Drive and Valley View Lane

Ray Silvares, the city’s director of public works, told the Farmers Branch City Council on April 22 that traffic backups at the Denton Drive and Valley View Lane intersection are the result of multiple, overlapping causes.

"This intersection has been, critical for some of the for the last couple months," Silvares said, and he listed recent changes that are constraining traffic flow: Texas Department of Transportation work on I‑35 that has cut off access at Pike Street and abandoned Carrick Street, a reduction from three lanes to two in one approach, a new multisport facility that generates tournament traffic on weekends, nearby restaurants and pedestrian crossings that lengthen signal cycles, plus periodic DART crossings and emergency vehicle interruptions.

The temporary traffic signals at the I‑35/Valley View interchange, Silvares said, operate as "dummy signals" that move only a single leg at a time and do not run multiple approaches simultaneously. Those cycles give each active leg about a 45‑second green and, combined with the other constraints, create queues on northbound Denton Drive and westbound Valley View Lane.

Why it matters: the intersection serves event traffic for a new Dallas Stars multisport center, local restaurants and commuter traffic from I‑35. Council members said the backups are most severe on tournament weekends and during peak rail or DART crossings.

Council questions and staff answers

When the mayor asked about the service road at Pike, Silvares said, "they're saying that towards June late June, early July, they're looking to kinda have that traffic switched over and hopefully open up that connection between Pike And 30 5." Councilman Jackson noted that opening Pike would only provide limited relief for cars queued on Valley View Lane, and Silvares agreed that the Pike connection is expected to give some additional egress but not fully solve the backups until the larger I‑35 project is finished.

On the broader TxDOT timeline, Silvares said the agency’s current target for major completion of the I‑35 expansion is December, "maybe come around January 2026," and that he meets monthly with the TxDOT project engineer and is receiving regular updates.

Council members asked about interim or short‑term fixes. Silvares said public works has adjusted signal timing to maximize green time for critical movements, particularly the left turn from Denton onto westbound Valley View, and that staff have "maximized that green cycle" based on observations. He also said the city is monitoring grant opportunities via the regional council of governments to fund "smarter infrastructure" for traffic signals but that no grant has been secured yet.

Staff emphasized uncertainty and monitoring

Silvares cautioned that some elements are outside city control — chiefly TxDOT construction and the staged signals installed for the I‑35 work — and that the city will continue to monitor traffic patterns and adjust signal timing as data permit. He said staff will try to coordinate future signal timing with the new TxDOT signals when those are activated to avoid consecutive red lights along east‑west movements.

Council members asked staff to keep tracking weekend event impacts and to evaluate the temporary measures during any future construction so pedestrians and motorists both are served safely.

Ending

Council members thanked staff for the briefing and asked for continued monitoring and updates as the TxDOT milestones and the Pike service‑road opening approach.