page_title: Texas State Highway 121
section_title: Route description
hierarchical_section_title: Texas State Highway 121 / Route description
caption_attribution_description: Texas 121 Business looking south from the IH-35E southbound overpass.
context_page_description: State Highway 121 is a state highway angling from southwest to northeast through north central Texas. It runs from downtown Fort Worth, Texas at the junction of Interstate 35W to Bonham, Texas, just north of a junction with U.S. Highway 82.
  Between Fort Worth and Euless, SH 121 is known as Airport Freeway. East of Coppell, the highway functions as the frontage road for the Sam Rayburn Tollway, a toll road that runs northeast to McKinney. From McKinney to Melissa, the state highway is concurrent with US 75 and the North Central Expressway. Northeast of Melissa, SH 121 is a less-traveled roadway often referred to as the Sam Rayburn Highway.
context_section_description: Sections between downtown Fort Worth and Grapevine are freeway, including a small segment near Hurst that coincides with Interstate 820. At Bedford, Texas it has an interchange with SH 183, the Irving freeway that leads toward Dallas; it has an interchange with SH 360, which leads toward Arlington, just to the west of the north entrance to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, to which State Highway 121 gives access.  At Grapevine it has interchanges with SH 114 and Interstate 635 before becoming a limited-access tollway that passes between Lewisville and Frisco.
  It is very heavily traveled south and west of McKinney and has become an urban highway due to the rapid growth of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.  Service roads extending southwest to northeast along the corridor from Lewisville to McKinney are free of charge; however the main lanes within the right-of-way are tolled as part of the Sam Rayburn Tollway operated by the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA). The highway's northeastern section between Melissa and Bonham carries less traffic and until recently was a two-lane rural highway.  However, in recent years with an increase in traffic, the 19 mile section between the Collin-Fannin County line and its junction with SH 56 in Bonham has been upgraded to a "Super Two" highway system.  This allows for alternating passing lanes.  Beginning in 2016, the segment between Melissa and the Collin-Fannin County line is being upgraded to a four-lane divided highway system.  In addition, a two mile stretch between SH 56 and US 82 within Bonham city limits, was upgraded to a four-lane highway system with a continuous left-hand turn lane.  Long term planning calls for upgrading the 19 mile stretch, from the Collin-Fannin County line to SH 56 in Bonham, into a four-lane divided highway system.
  It meets Interstate 35E at Lewisville, SH 289 near Frisco, US 75 and US 380 in McKinney, US 69 at Trenton, and SH 78 just north of Bonham.
  Construction began in 2009 on the extension of 121 south from Fort Worth to Cleburne, as a toll road called Chisholm Trail Parkway in Tarrant and Johnson Counties. This section is operated by the NTTA and the entire project, from IH 30 to U.S. 67 opened to traffic in 2013.
  In March 2009, work was completed on the eventual southbound lanes on a short stretch of 121 northeast of DFW Airport, which currently shares southbound and northbound traffic. This work upgraded two signalized at-grade intersections to a freeway, with overpasses at both intersections, improving traffic in that area. The northbound freeway lanes are currently under construction, which also include new, separate exits and entrances for Freeport Parkway and Grapevine Mills Boulevard/Sandy Lake Road.
caption: SH 121 Business west from I-35E towards Grapevine
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