The orange traffic cone is so ubiquitous in North Texas that it could be named the region’s official flower. In 2025, though, several long-awaited Dallas developments will be trading their cones for ribbon cuttings.
Causing road closures and, err, more road closures, Dallas’ ambitious construction projects aren’t always appreciated while the work is underway. Once open, however, we believe projects like the DART Silver Line and the historic Forest Theater will prove to be beneficial to North Texans for years to come.
This may be the year the wait is over for five Dallas construction projects — but we aren’t holding out hope that our city’s days of lane closures and dust clouds will be behind us.
After all, when one construction project ends, those glowing, orange cones are sure to sprout up somewhere nearby sooner or later.
The Forest Theater
In late 2025, construction crews tasked with restoring the 75-year-old Forest Theater are expected to take a bow.
Groundbreaking on the South Dallas theater revitalization took place last April thanks to the work of the nonprofit Forest Forward, which, in 2017, revealed a $75 million plan to reopen the monument. Originally built for a middle-class, white audience, the Forest Theater became a hub for Black entertainers and crowds after the construction of the South Central Expressway, now called the S.M. Wright Freeway. Despite hosting the likes of Tina Turner, Erykah Badu and B.B. King, however, the Forest’s curtain came down for good in 2009.
By integrating the theater’s historic charm while addressing local needs — like mixed-income housing — through a broad neighborhood plan, Forest Forward is stewarding a new life for the theater and its surrounding area.
The project is planning a soft launch for December of this year, before opening at full capacity in 2026.
Dallas North Tollway Expansion
True to its name, the Dallas North Tollway just keeps creeping northward, and in 2025 a lane expansion project that broke ground in 2022 may help accommodate growing populations in Collin County. For only $157 million, Frisco drivers will soon have a fourth lane to travel in when taking the DNT north or south between the Sam Rayburn Tollway and U.S. 380.
A project website states that the project’s final objectives will be to complete the southbound DNT bridge at Fields Parkway, install illumination and signage along the route and reconstruct the southbound John Hickman/Warren Parkway/Gaylord Parkway exit ramp. The exit ramp is expected to be completed in the spring.
DNT’s Frisco expansion has resulted in some significant road closures over the past few years, which are updated regularly on an interactive map maintained by the city. Although those road closures will likely subside by the end of 2025 as the expansion is finished, Dallas North Tollway’s signature traffic isn’t going anywhere. Next on the agenda is the DNT Phase 4 Project, planned to extend the tollway 13.7 miles north of U.S. 380.
The drainage and foundational work for phase 4A are underway, and officials are eyeing a fall 2027 completion date. A completion date for the construction’s 4B phase has not been announced.
Texas Behavioral Health Center at UT Southwestern
Two-hundred beds for adults seeking mental health care are expected to open at the Texas Behavioral Health Center at UT Southwestern this summer.
The facility, in Dallas' medical district, marks the first state mental health hospital in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, made possible by more than $280 million approved by the 87th Texas Legislature. A 92-bed pediatric unit will be added to the hospital in spring 2026.
Officials say the facility will offer “much needed care” to North Texans amid ongoing concerns of a national mental health crisis.
“The new hospital fills a great need in our community for more psychiatric hospital beds. I am proud to have worked on this project since the beginning of the 85th Legislature in 2017,” State Sen. Royce West said during the hospital’s 2023 groundbreaking. “I am particularly excited that this facility will provide patients a true continuum of psychiatric care – both inpatient and outpatient – to help treat those persons suffering from severe mental illness.”
The Cotton Bowl
Texas and Oklahoma football fans may not agree on much, but Cotton Bowl officials expect both sides will appreciate the stadium’s $140-million facelift come this year’s Red River Rivalry.
The first phase of the renovations was completed in 2024, and construction crews are now working to expand the stadium’s concourses, modernize restrooms and concessions areas, improve Wi-Fi and ramp access for wheelchair-bound attendees, add escalators and zhuzh up the building facade.
Those improvements should be completed by the time the 2025 State Fair rolls around, and the finished project will be just one checkmark on a laundry list of improvements planned for Fair Park.
Investments in the Cotton Bowl are already paying off. Last year, Dallas Trinity FC was announced as one of eight soccer teams launching the women’s USL Super League. The Cotton Bowl will be the team's home turf; the Pegasi (Pegasuses?) currently sit in second place in the league’s standings. A more accessible, comfortable and charming Cotton Bowl should only benefit the team by making the stadium a place North Texans actually want to visit.
DART Silver Line
Remember those pesky road closures we mentioned earlier? Well, few are better acquainted with that particular inconvenience than those who live near the planned DART Silver Line, which will connect Shiloh Road in Plano to DFW Airport.
The 26-mile rail will travel through Collin, Dallas and Tarrant counties, but the year-long closure of Hillcrest Road to accommodate construction had neighbors saying “no thanks” to the transit plan. Nonetheless, DART began testing the cars on the $2 billion project last summer, and the trains are expected to be operational in late 2025.
Or maybe early 2026. You know how these things go.
Still, the majority of the construction that has caused ire for nearby neighbors is expected to wrap up this year. Testing of the rail line will run through this summer, officials say.
