Central Expressway (first opened in the 1950s) goes through downtown Dallas and has been dubbed “Central Distressway” since at least the early 1990s.  The population of the Dallas area and its suburbs resulted in increased traffic; much of the Central Expressway was reconstructed in the 1990s.
 
 
Wikipedia: Central Expressway (Dallas)
Central Expressway is a north-south highway in Dallas, Texas (USA) and surrounding areas.
 
North Central Expressway
The best-known section is the North Central Expressway, a name for a freeway section of U.S. Highway 75 between downtown Dallas and McKinney, Texas. The southern terminus is at an intersection with “hidden” Interstate 345 (signed as Interstate 45) and Woodall Rodgers Expressway.
 
South of US 75’s terminus, North Central Expressway briefly continues south in the median of I-345, then continues through the eastern side of downtown Dallas as a surface street.
 
The North Central Expressway is near high-income neighborhoods and enclave cities such as Highland Park and University Park. The freeway is also adjacent to popular districts including Uptown, Cityplace, NorthPark Center, and the Telecom Corridor. Near the intersection of Central Expressway and Mockingbird Lane is a prestigious private university, Southern Methodist University, and the popular Mockingbird Station project.
 
The Dallas Area Rapid Transit light rail system has a tunnel underneath the North Central Expressway between downtown Dallas and Mockingbird Station.
 
History
The Central project was first proposed by Dallas City Planner George E. Kessler in 1911, who suggested that the city buy the right of way of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad (H&TC) to remove the railway tracks and construct a Central Boulevard (later renamed the Central Expressway project) in their place. Southern Pacific opposed the use of their railroad’s right of way to construct the Central Expressway, and it was this opposition that caused the signficant delays in the construction to the early 1950s. Parts of the North Central Expressway were opened in 1950, but the route from Downtown to Mockingbird Lane was only fully functional by the end of 1952, and the whole route to Campbell road in Richardson was only opened for traffic in August, 1956. By the time the Central Expressway opened for traffic, North Dallas and Richardson had already expanded beyond expectations, and the new highway was already hopelessly inadequate by the 1960s.
 
Reconstruction
Prior to reconstruction, the North Central Expressway was considered to be one of the most poorly designed freeways in the nation. Though initially an engineering marvel as Dallas’s first freeway when it opened to traffic in 1950, the explosive growth that soon hit north Dallas and the nearby suburbs quickly overwhelmed its design and capacity.

In the early 1980s, the TxDOT floated plans to build an elevated structure above the existing freeway. After considerable study and debate, elevated structures were eliminated. Construction started in 1992 and was finally completed in November 1999. Total reconstruction cost was around $600 million.
 
Current state
The facility has 8 continuous general-purpose lanes from downtown Dallas to Legacy Drive in Plano except for a six-lane segment where it passes under Interstate 635 (two additional lanes are present but are only entrance ramps/exit ramps for Forest Lane and Midpark Road). For the six miles (10 km) north of downtown Dallas, the freeway lies more than 30 feet (9.1 m) below adjacent and partially cantilevered frontage roads.
   
Urban Dictionary
central distressway 
pun off of Central Expressway (commonly knows as just ‘Caentral’ or ‘75’ ), in Dallas Texas. Which is basically this huge ass expressway that almost EVERYONE in Dallas uses to get to and from somewhere so its always bumper to bumper hence the term “Central Distressway”
“dude your like 3 hours late.”
“sorry man, i got caught up on central distressway”
by dallas_vintage Aug 3, 2007
 
Google Groups: rec.crafts.brewing
Newsgroups: rec.crafts.brewing
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Kevin “Who Dat” Hardee)
Date: 15 Aug 1994 21:56:49 GMT
Local: Mon, Aug 15 1994 3:56 pm
Subject: Re: Dallas homebrewing (was: Re: Beer in D
   
Jack previously worked for HHQ and has since opened his own store Homebrew Supply of Dallas.  The confusion on this group that I regularly see is caused by that fact that HHQ is on the west side of the Central Distressway, and HBSOD is on the east side.
 
Google Groups: dfw.general
Newsgroups: dfw.general
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Nick Metrowsky)
Date: 22 Aug 94 08:10:50 CST
Local: Mon, Aug 22 1994 8:10 am
Subject: Re: Frankford and I-35?
 
Making SR-190 a toll road is a great idea, right! I can see it now the LBJ Freeway being backed up for miles and SR-190 having little traffic. If you do not believe this, then take a look at Beltway 8 in Houston. I-610 is like Central Expressway (distressway) during rush hours and Beltway 8 has a very low traffic flow.
 
Google Books
How to Talk American:
A Guide to Our Native Tongues
By Jim Crotty
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Books
1997
Pg. 341:
central distressway: what Dallas residents call the 75 central expressway.
   
City-Data Forum: Texas - Fort Worth
Osi
05-21-2007, 02:48 PM
That drive from Plano to Arlington was a killer… in my opinion, nearly as bad as “Central Distressway” into downtown Dallas.