South Arlington drivers just picked up a long-awaited new escape route. The City of Arlington has opened the extension of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, a fresh north-south corridor over Interstate 20 that officials say should finally take a little pressure off the daily grind on Matlock Road and Collins Street.
The new four-lane, 1.18-mile stretch now links Bardin Road to Green Oaks Boulevard and comes with a 10-foot shared-use trail, sidewalks and ADA-compliant ramps. City projections say the added route could pull roughly 2,000 vehicles a day off Matlock Road and trim congestion there by about 5 percent in the near term.
City, county and community leaders marked the opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday, according to the City of Arlington, which shared photos from the event and noted that the extension is now open to traffic. The city quoted Public Works Director Keith Brooks saying that delivering another north and south corridor provides traffic relief to Matlock Road and Collins Street…