IH 30: Precast Panel Murals Depict a "Sense of Arrival"

TXDOT’s Fort Worth District has been planning an 11 mile expansion of IH 30 east of Fort Worth for many years.  However, the prospects of the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium relocation helped accelerate the design and ultimate construction of a 2 mile section through Arlington.  While this roadway accommodates over 200,000 vehicles per day traveling between Dallas and Fort Worth, the City of Arlington also serves as a destination of its own.

In addition to the Cowboys’ Stadium, Arlington is also home to Six Flags Theme Park, the American League Champion Texas Rangers, the University of Texas at Arlington, and a General Motors Assembly plant.  So when project planners set forth to create a “sense of arrival” in the City of Arlington, these venues offered familiar subjects for artistic expression.  Since the project’s tight ROW dictated 500,000 SF of retaining walls, a perfect palette was available for murals. 

The primary engineer for the project was a joint venture of Graham Associates, Inc. and Schrickel, Rollins and Associates, Inc. (SRA) while the concept of the murals was a joint effort of SRA, Townscape, Inc. and Kaser Design (the Team).  The Team developed conceptual images for 8 murals that depict historical and cultural aspects that helped define life in Arlington.  Per TXDOT’s policies, it was critical that the murals were free of any logos, brands, etc. that would serve as advertisement.  Therefore, even though IH-30 is also named the Tom Landry Freeway, any resemblances between the figures on the murals and actual people are purely coincidental.  If you look closely and use your imagination, you might catch a glimpse of Nolan Ryan or Tom Landry.

After consultation with The Reinforced Earth Company (RECo), the Team concluded that the murals would be formed in flat concrete surfaces at 5 different levels.  This approach would be half the cost of sculpted surfaces.  In addition, the Team agreed upon a level of detail that was not too small to cast into concrete, but still achieved the desired visual affect.  As a result, the Team prepared detailed electronic drawings of each mural for the bid documents.  To help with staging, TXDOT bid the project in 2 separate segments. Zachry Construction Corp. secured the first contract (3 murals) and W.W. Webber, LLC secured the second contract (5 murals).  Both General Contractors selected RECo’s as the most competitive and qualified wall proposer.

During the shop drawing phase, RECo’s Engineering Department in Texas interfaced with the Team to optimize the location of the panel joints and to reconcile the shape and the interface of the various concrete levels.  Once the final details were accepted, RECo manufactured the form material and cast each panel with precision at its Waco facility.  Then, upon delivery of the panels to the site, both Zachry and Webber successfully erected the panels to a tight tolerance so that the artwork would align across the panel joints.

All that remained was the application of color, for which The Team specified a monochromatic color scheme which was consistent with other elements of the project, while providing a degree of distinction between the 5 layers – and a resulting sense of added depth.