These images show the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolis in northeastern Texas. This city has grown significantly in recent decades, from 2,378,000 in 1970 to 7,233,323 by 2016.
Over the last few decades, Dallas’ urban/suburban areas have expanded rapidly by consuming arable land in the countryside. The city is expanding in almost every direction. These images show the northeastern suburbs of Plano, Allen, and McKinney. The lake on the east side of the images is Lavon Lake.
Joe Pool Lake, southwest of Dallas, is not present in the 1974 image and shows up in the 1989 image. Impoundment of the lake began in 1986 and opened for fishing and recreation in 1989.
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, between Dallas and Fort Worth, opened the year of the first Landsat image shown here, 1974. A new runway added after 1974 can be seen west of the airport in the 1989 image. The north-south runway on the east side opened in 1996 and appears in both the 2000 and 2016 images. The airport covers almost 30 square miles, making it the second largest airport in the United States.
