Interstate 345

Interstate 345
Central Dallas with I-345 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by TxDOT
Length:	1.4 mi (2.3 km)
Existed:	August 23, 1973 (1973-08-23) – present
Major junctions
South end:	I-30 / I-45 in Dallas
North end:	US 75 / Spur 366 in Dallas
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business Future Highways in Texas Interstate US State Toll Loops Spurs FM/RM Park Rec ← SH 344 SH 345 →

Interstate 345 (I-345) is the 1.4-mile-long (2.3 km) freeway connecting I-45 (which ends at the intersection with Interstate 30) with U.S. Highway 75 (US 75, North Central Expressway) at Spur 366 (Woodall Rodgers Freeway) in Dallas. Few maps actually display the road as I-345; sign posts on the road only show US 75. In recent years, a debate over whether to maintain or decommission I-345 has received increased attention from several Dallas media outlets.

I-345 serves as the connection between I-45 and the North Central Expressway (US 75). It starts at the intersection of I-45 and I-30, passes by downtown Dallas and connects to US 75 at the Spur 366 junction. The entire stretch of I-345 is elevated allowing for better connections between the Central Business District and Deep Ellum.

Although I-345 uses its own mileposts, the exit numbering is not consistent. The exit numbers on the northbound stretch count upwards from the I-45 numbers (the exit for Spur 366 being labeled as exit 286A), while on the southbound stretch the Spur 366 exit is numbered exit 1A, followed by the exit for Ross Avenue numbered exit 285.

In 1964 I-345, extending I-45 north along the proposed Central Expressway bypass, was added as a proposed state highway. I-345 was built and opened in the 1970s. At the north end, before it merged into the Central Expressway (which continued to carry US 75), I-345 straddled the bridges over Bryan Street and Ross Avenue, the latter the location of the opening ceremonies in 1949. 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.

There has recently been a growing level of local news coverage of a proposal to completely remove I-345, and decommission it from the Interstate Highway System.