Editing Interstate 45 (section)

===Richland to Dallas (Julius Schepps Freeway)===
The [[Central Expressway (Dallas)|Central Expressway]] was the first [[freeway]] in [[Dallas]], built as a new alignment of US&nbsp;75. It first opened between San Jacinto Street and Fitzhugh Avenue in 1949 and soon stretched south to [[Hutchins, Texas|Hutchins]]. The stretch through downtown, however, ran along the surface, as did the part south of the bridge over the [[Trinity River (Texas)|Trinity River]], due to diversion of funds to the north portion.<ref name=greenargon>{{cite web |url = http://www.greenargon.com/uh/uhprofile.php?id=39 |title = Urban History: Central Expressway |access-date = |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111001213013/http://www.greenargon.com/uh/uhprofile.php?id=39 |archive-date = October 1, 2011 }}</ref><!--should be replaced with a more reliable source--> By the late 1950s, a bypass to the east of the downtown section was planned.<ref>{{cite news |work = [[Dallas Times Herald]] |title = City Seeks Freeway Project |date = June 22, 1958 }}{{full citation needed|date=April 2020}}</ref> By the time construction reached Hutchins, in about 1955, the state decided to build further segments to full freeway standards. By 1961, the freeway was complete between Hutchins and the [[Texas State Highway 14|SH&nbsp;14]] split at [[Richland, Texas|Richland]], except for the bypass around [[Corsicana, Texas|Corsicana]], which was built {{Circa|1964}}.<ref name="NBI" /><ref name=Texas-1961>{{cite map |author = General Drafting Company |url = http://www.aaroads.com/texas/maps/1961-enco.html |title = Texas |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131203012144/http://www.aaroads.com/texas/maps/1961-enco.html |archive-date = December 3, 2013 |year = 1961 |publisher = Humble Oil }}</ref> This freeway was mostly built along the existing US&nbsp;75; one of the projects<!--exactly which?--> in [[Navarro County, Texas|Navarro County]], near Corsicana, was the first Interstate project in Texas approved under the [[Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956]].<ref name=FHWA>{{cite web |author = Federal Highway Administration |url = https://highways.dot.gov/highway-history/interstate-system/50th-anniversary |title = Previous Interstate Facts of the Day |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060426084506/http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/previousfacts.cfm |archive-date = April 26, 2006 |publisher = Federal Highway Administration |url-status = live |access-date = }}</ref>

[[Image:Dallas, Texas 1955 Yellow Book.jpg|thumb|1955 "[[General Location of National System of Interstate Highways|Yellow Book]]" plan for Interstates in Dallas]]
It was not until 1964 that I-345, extending I-45 north along the proposed Central Expressway bypass, was added as a proposed state highway.<ref name=HDF-IH-345>{{TxDOT|IH|345|link=no}}</ref> I-45 and I-345 were built and opened in the 1970s, with the final section, between Lamar Street (exit&nbsp;283A) and the Central Expressway (exit&nbsp;283B),<ref name=NBI/> opening on February 25, 1976.<ref>{{cite news |work = [[The Dallas Morning News]] |title =  Interstate 45 to Open Feb 25 |date = February 15, 1976 }}{{full citation needed|date=April 2020}}</ref> At the north end, before it merged into the Central Expressway (which continued to carry US&nbsp;75), I-345 straddled the bridges over Bryan Street and Ross Avenue, the latter the location of the opening ceremonies in 1949.<ref>{{cite news |work = The Dallas Morning News |title = North Central Turns 35 Today |date = August 19, 1984 }}{{full citation needed|date=April 2020}}</ref> Because of their location, these two bridges were not replaced in the 1990s reconstruction of the North Central Expressway and are the only surviving grade separations from the initial construction north from downtown.<ref name=NBI>{{cite book |author = Federal Highway Administration |title = [[National Bridge Inventory]] |year = 2006 }}{{full citation needed|date=April 2020}}</ref>

At the time the interchange with I-20 was built, the freeway that crossed I-45 was then a part of [[Interstate 635 (Texas)|I-635]]; it would not be until later when, initially, I-20 was added to I-635 as a multiplex, then later still, I-635 would be truncated away from the I-45 interchange (back around to just north of what is now I-20's interchange with US&nbsp;175).<ref>{{TxDOT|IH|20|access-date = July 21, 2010|link = no}}</ref><ref>{{TxDOT|IH|635|access-date = July 21, 2010|link = no}}</ref>

Reconstruction and widening to six lanes, from the [[Ellis County, Texas|Ellis]]–[[Navarro County, Texas|Navarro]] county line (between exits&nbsp;243 and 244) north to [[Texas State Highway 310|SH&nbsp;310]] (exit&nbsp;275), began in 1991.<ref>{{cite news |first = Tony |last = Hartzel |work = [[The Dallas Morning News]] |title = Road to Better Driving |date = October 29, 2000 }}{{page needed|date=April 2020}}</ref> The last section, near the north end, was completed in 2002.{{Citation needed|date=August 2007}}
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