Dallas grew up as a crossroads, and the freeways still converge on downtown. I-35E runs north as the Stemmons Freeway toward Denton and south toward Waco, I-30 heads west to Fort Worth and east toward Rockwall, and I-45 runs south toward Houston. I-635, the LBJ Freeway, arcs across the north side, I-20 crosses the south, and US 75, Central Expressway, carries the commute north to Richardson and Plano. The Dallas North Tollway parallels it through Uptown, North Dallas and Addison, and the President George Bush Turnpike makes a wide ring through the northern suburbs.
Rush hour on Central, the LBJ, the Stemmons and the downtown mixmaster is part of daily life, and the freeways are lined with frontage roads that carry heavy local traffic. For a mobile mechanic, that matters in two ways. A breakdown on the main lanes is dangerous and slow to clear, so getting the car to a frontage road or a lot makes a huge difference. And the street grid in older neighborhoods like Lakewood, Oak Cliff and East Dallas makes driveway and curbside work easy to reach without touching a freeway at all.
Dallas Love Field sits in the city near Oak Lawn and the Medical District, while DFW International lies between Dallas and Fort Worth, and both have long-term lots where cars sit for days. DART runs light rail lines that fan out to the suburbs, plus buses across the city. The Medical District along Harry Hines Boulevard, home to UT Southwestern and Parkland, and the hospitals near Baylor in East Dallas draw thousands of shift workers every day.