To say Rowlett Mayor John Harper is excited about the Bush Turnpike extending into his town is an understatement.

"Oh, my, yes," Dr. Harper said. "What can I say? I can go on and on about it."

This morning, a groundbreaking took place for the $1 billion, 9.9-mile leg that will connect State Highway 78 in Garland to Interstate 30.

The turnpike extension isn't scheduled to open until late 2011, but considering that talk about a freeway dates to the 1960s, economic relief in the form of highway frontage now seems close at hand for Rowlett.

The city has struggled to attract commercial interest and has developed into a bedroom community with one of the region's highest property tax rates.

"What an economic engine the extension is going to be for Rowlett," Dr. Harper said. "It causes our economic development to take off, something we need badly because our tax base is so heavily residential."

City officials project that the extension – along with the 2012 planned arrival of Dallas Area Rapid Transit light rail – will combine to create 13,000 jobs and $18.9 billion in economic impact over 20 years.

Much of that will come in Rowlett's undeveloped Northshore, a 1,000-acre planned commercial and light industrial district along the northern part of the extension. Rowlett also hopes to develop a 300-acre retail and restaurant center along the turnpike just north of Lake Ray Hubbard.

Garland and Sachse also expect to benefit. Former Garland Mayor Bob Day said the city would not have been able to lure Firewheel Town Center to its location at the turnpike and Highway 78 had the extension not been planned.

"It'll carry a lot of traffic from every direction," said Dr. Day, now a board member for the North Texas Tollway Authority, which operates the turnpike. "That's why Firewheel Town Center is where it is."

The turnpike has not, however, proven to trigger automatic economic booms everywhere it goes. Much of the land along turnpike extensions east of Central Expressway and west of Interstate 35E remains undeveloped.

Dr. Day predicted development would follow the new extension because no other major highway goes near eastern Dallas County. And the connection to Interstate 30 should draw traffic to and from Collin County.

"You can't get there any other way except the turnpike," Dr. Day said. "It's all landlocked. We don't have a major way of getting anything except Highway 78, which are city streets."

Dr. Harper said real estate brokers and developers have approached Rowlett about property surrounding the extension.

Construction is scheduled to begin next month, NTTA spokeswoman Sherita Coffelt said.

Tolls on the extension will range from 40 cents to $1.50 for TollTag customers and from 65 cents to $2.20 for drivers without TollTags, according to the NTTA.

The extension won't include toll booths – part of the NTTA's regionwide plan to reduce staff and improve traffic flow. Cameras will capture license plates and mail bills to the registered owners.