Highway News

Big freeway closure in Dallas skedded for Valentine's Day gets pushed back

Stretch of I-635 east of US 75 as of April 2020

Valentine's Day will be spared from this particular roadwork.

UPDATE 2-19-2021: The demo has been pushed back a week and rescheduled for Saturday, February 27. All times remain the same, it will just happen one week later.

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UPDATE 2-11-2021: The demo has been pushed back a week and rescheduled for Saturday, February 20. All times remain the same, it will just happen one week later.

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If your Valentine's Day plans involve driving anywhere on I-635, you'll want to take note of some major roadwork happening over that weekend.

A partial demo of the Forest Lane and Abrams Road bridges over I-635, originally scheduled for this weekend, has been pushed back a week to Saturday, February 13.

The rescheduled work will group all associated closures for the bridge demo into one hellacious evening, beginning 8 pm on Saturday through noon on Sunday.

This will require street closures at Forest Lane, Abrams Road, and Markville Drive.

Both directions of mainlane traffic will be detoured to the frontage roads at this time.

So if you're headed to any of the restaurants on this Valentine's Day list, you and your GPS device may want to start strategizing a new route.

The rescheduled closures and associated detours are as follows:

Closing Saturday February 13 at 8 pm

All lanes of eastbound I-635 between Abrams Road and Forest Lane
DETOUR: Eastbound traffic will be detoured to take the exit to Abrams Road (Exit 17) and remain on the frontage road to access the entrance ramp after Forest Lane.

All lanes of westbound I-635 between Forest Lane and Abrams Road
DETOUR: Westbound mainlane traffic will be detoured to take the exit to Abrams Road (Exit 17) and remain on the frontage road to access the entrance ramp after Abrams Road.

All lanes of the eastbound I-635 TEXpress Lanes prior to U.S. 75
DETOUR: Traffic will be directed to exit at Coit Road.

Entrance ramp to eastbound I-635 between Greenville Avenue and Abrams Road
DETOUR: Drivers must use the entrance ramp just east of Forest Lane to access eastbound I-635.

Entrance ramp to eastbound I-635 at TI Boulevard
DETOUR: Drivers will be detoured along Valley View Lane and the westbound I-635 frontage road toward the U.S. 75 U-Turn to access the entrance ramp to eastbound I-635.

Closing Saturday February 13 at 7 pm

Markville Drive between Greenville Avenue and the eastbound I-635 frontage road
DETOUR: Drivers will be detoured north on Greenville Avenue, east on Walnut Street and south on Audelia Road. If needing to access eastbound I-635, drivers may take this detour and use the entrance ramp to eastbound I-635 from Skillman Street.

All lanes of Abrams Road at I-635
DETOUR: Northbound Abrams Road traffic will head west on Forest Lane, north on Greenville Avenue and east on Walnut Street to access Abrams Road. Southbound Abrams Road traffic will head west on Walnut Street, south on Greenville Avenue and east on Forest Lane to access Abrams Road.

All lanes of Forest Lane at I-635
DETOUR: Eastbound Forest Lane drivers will head south on Abrams Road and turn left on Royal Lane and left on Skillman Street through the I-635 intersection to access Forest Lane. Westbound Forest Lane drivers will continue south along the Skillman Street/Audelia Road, using Royal Lane and Abrams Road to access Forest Lane.

Drivers are advised to plan commutes in advance or seek alternate routes. All closures are subject to weather or other unforeseen circumstances.

These closures are to perform bridge work for the 635 East Project. The 635 East Project is an 11-mile project on Interstate 635 in Dallas County, which wraps around the northeast border of Dallas. Construction includes the addition of a lane in each direction, building continuous frontage roads, and rebuilding the interchange at I-635 and I-30.

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Education news

5 Dallas high schools rank among America's best in 2025, per U.S. News

Dallas ISD The School for the Talented and Gifted

tagmagnet.dallasisd.org/

The School for the Talented and Gifted in Dallas ISD is the 9th best high school in the country, and the top high school in Texas.

Five prestigious Dallas-area high schools are living up to their reputations for top-tier education after being ranked among the best high schools in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report's just-released annual rankings.

Three high schools in Dallas Independent School District - The School for the Talented and Gifted, Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School, and the School of Science and Engineering - also clocked in as the top three best high schools in Texas.

U.S. News annually evaluates about 24,000 public high schools on six factors: college readiness, college curriculum breadth, state assessment proficiency, state assessment performance, underserved student performance, and graduation rates. New for this year's batch of rankings, U.S. News discontinued its list of top magnet schools, citing a lack of new data from source Common Core of Data. The national best STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and charter schools rankings were unaffected.

Topping the 2025 list of best U.S. high schools is BASIS Tuscon North, a charter school in Tuscon, Arizona.

DISD's The School for the Talented and Gifted appeared as the 9th best high school in the U.S., and No. 1 in Texas. The school had been ranked No. 6 nationally since 2023. TAG also ranked 33rd nationally among the best STEM high schools, down from No. 21 in 2024.

Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School claimed the No. 2 spot statewide and ranked No. 15 nationally this year, up from No. 23 nationwide in 2024.

School of Science and Engineering rounded out the statewide top three and moved up into No. 23 in the national list of best high schools (up from No. 29 last year). In the national rankings of best STEM schools, SEM ranked 46 overall, down from No. 37 last year.

"Students and families need data to help them make one of the most important decisions of their academic journey. Our Best High Schools rankings provide the insights to help them identify schools that will prepare students for college success," said U.S. News managing editor for education LaMont Jones, Ed.D., in a press release. "Access to information isn't just helpful — it's essential for planning a student's future."

The two additional Dallas-area schools that earned spots in the nationwide top 100 were Grand Prairie Collegiate Institute (No. 54) and Judge Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet (No. 84). GPCI dropped from its former No. 30 spot in 2024, and the Law Magnet moved up one spot from last year's national ranking. In the ranking of best Texas high schools, GPCI ranked 6th while the Law Magnet ranked 9th.

High schools across Dallas-Fort Worth that earned top-100 spots in the Texas-wide list
Other Dallas-Fort Worth schools that rank among Texas' 100 best are:

No. 13 – School of Health Professions, Dallas ISD
No. 14 – Westlake Academy, Westlake
No. 23 – Trinidad Garza Early College at Mt. View, Dallas ISD
No. 24 – Imagine International Academy of North Texas, McKinney
No. 25 – World Languages Institute, Fort Worth
No. 26 – Uplift Education-North Hills Prep High School, Irving
No. 34 – Young Women's Leadership Academy, Fort Worth ISD
No. 35 – Grand Prairie Fine Arts Academy, Grand Prairie ISD
No. 36 – Highland Park High School, Highland Park ISD
No. 37 – Booker T. Washington SPVA, Dallas ISD
No. 41 – Rosie Sorrells Education and Social Services High School, Dallas ISD
No. 45 – James M. Steele Accelerated High School, Northwest ISD, Roanoke
No. 46 – Marvin E. Robinson School of Business and Management, Dallas ISD
No. 47 – Founders Classical Academy - Frisco
No. 50 – Dr. Wright L. Lassiter Jr. Early College High School, Dallas ISD
No. 58 – Cedar Hill Collegiate High School, Cedar Hill ISD
No. 61 – Reedy High School, Frisco ISD
No. 62 – Coppell High School, Coppell ISD
No. 65 – Lovejoy High School, Lovejoy ISD, Lucas
No. 69 – Liberty High School, Frisco ISD
No. 70 – Independence High School, Frisco ISD
No. 74 – Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy, Dallas ISD
No. 78 – Centennial High School, Frisco ISD
No. 81 – Founders Classical Academy, Lewisville
No. 85 – Uplift Grand High School, Grand Prairie
No. 98 – Uplift Infinity High School, Irving
No. 100 – North Lake Early College High School, Dallas ISD

Other Texas high schools that rank among the best in the U.S.
These six additional Texas high schools made it into U.S. News' national list of the top 100 high schools for 2025-2026:

Austin ISD’s Liberal Arts and Science Academy, No. 36 (up from No. 38 last year). LASA also ranked No. 74 nationally among the best STEM high schools.
Houston ISD’s Carnegie Vanguard High School, No. 42 (down from No. 31 last year).
BASIS San Antonio - Shavano Campus, No. 58 (up from No. 64 last year). The Shavano Campus also ranked No. 18 nationally among the best STEM high schools and No. 14 nationally among the best charter high schools.
Houston ISD’s DeBakey High School for Health Professions, No. 75 (down from No. 70 last year).
Lubbock ISD's Talkington School for Young Women Leaders, No. 95 (up from No. 105 last year).
San Antonio ISD's Young Women's Leadership Academy, No. 98 (up from No. 106 last year).

high schools rankings dallas fort worth us news & world report