The city of Dallas is reviewing plans by the North Texas Tollway Authority to make it harder for wrong-way drivers to enter the Dallas North Tollway at Wycliff Avenue.

JIM MAHONEY/DMN

A car waits at the traffic light on Wycliff Avenue as other vehicles exit from the southbound lanes of the Dallas North Tollway. Longer medians are being proposed to keep cars from driving up the ramp and onto the highway.

The plan would involve extending two medians directly across from the tollway's southbound exit ramp at Wycliff.

It is one of the recommendations from the tollway authority's wrong-way driver task force, NTTA spokeswoman Sherita Coffelt said.

"NTTA has given ... [preliminary] design plans to the city of Dallas to make enhancements that would make it more difficult for motorists, even those under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, to make errant turns," she said.

Coffelt said the NTTA sent the plans to the city last week, "and they have informed us that they will need two weeks to review the plans. After that, we will bid out the project and begin construction."

The work will cost about $20,000, she said.

The NTTA already has installed new signs to discourage wrong-way drivers. And reflective buttons have been placed on and near exit ramps to signal the proper direction of traffic.

Wrong-way crashes have caused a number of deaths recently on NTTA toll roads, including four in the first seven months of 2009. Nearly every instance in recent years has involved a driver impaired by alcohol or drugs.

Last week, police arrested a wrong-way driver on the Dallas North Tollway after he crashed into a pole, injuring himself and causing the road to be closed for more than an hour.