The US 75 corridor, explained
US 75 is the untolled north–south spine on the eastern side of our covered cities — Plano, Allen, McKinney, Melissa, and Anna — and in 2026 TxDOT marked the finish of its last Collin County mile, capping what the agency calls a decades-long effort to relieve congestion along the corridor (TxDOT).
What it connects
Five of the covered cities line up along US 75, south to north: Plano, Allen, McKinney, Melissa, and Anna. Its anchor employment center in our grid is Richardson CityLine — the State Farm campus in the US-75 Telecom Corridor, just south of Plano. On the computed free-flow grid, CityLine is 6 minutes from Plano, 13 from Allen, 20 from McKinney, 29 from Melissa, and 36 from Anna; downtown Dallas at the corridor's south end runs 23, 29, 36, 45, and 52 minutes respectively (Where In DFW). That spread is the corridor's core trade: each city north buys distance from the employment anchors — the city pages and comparisons below price it.
The construction that just ended — and what's still listed active
The corridor's long widening push reached its Collin County finish in Anna: the $80 million "Last Mile" project between County Road 370 and the Grayson County line fully rebuilt and widened US 75 from a rural four-lane highway to six lanes (three each direction), converted two-way frontage roads to one-way, and reconstructed the Mantua Road / CR 371 cross-street bridge — TxDOT marked final completion in July 2026 (TxDOT). Farther south, TxDOT's early-2026 Collin County construction report listed the $157.4 million US 75 highway improvement from I-635 to SH 121 at 95% complete with a scheduled June 2026 finish (TxDOT) — check TxDOT's project pages for the current status of any segment you drive.
Free corridor, tolled neighbor
US 75's main lanes carry no toll — the structural contrast with the Dallas North Tollway, one corridor west, where a daily commute means TollTag economics. For a household weighing the two spines, that difference is a recurring monthly cost on one side — the commute grid prices the minutes; the DNT guide prices the tolls.
Choosing along the corridor
The verified comparisons put the corridor cities side by side with the same sourced values, rents, and commute grid: Allen vs Plano, Anna vs McKinney, McKinney vs Melissa, and Anna vs Melissa. City profiles: Plano, Allen, McKinney, Melissa, Anna.
Sources
- TxDOT — US 75's Last Mile reaches the finish line (newsroom, July 2026) (retrieved 2026-09-18)
- TxDOT — Collin County Construction Projects (early-2026 report) (retrieved 2026-09-18)
- Where In DFW — computed commute grid (OSRM v5 free-flow, computed 2026-08-09) (retrieved 2026-09-18)
Sources: 3 cited above
Is the US 75 widening in Collin County finished?
The final Collin County mile — in Anna, from County Road 370 to the Grayson County line — was marked complete by TxDOT in July 2026 (TxDOT). TxDOT's early-2026 county report still listed the separate I-635-to-SH 121 improvement at 95% with a scheduled June 2026 finish (TxDOT).