WACO, Texas — I-35 drivers in Waco are about to see a one-mile detour along the main lanes that will last for a year.
Crews prepared the lanes to shift southbound traffic on I-35 to the northbound side on Saturday. The project will provide room for two lanes each way. The detour will go from South University Parks Drive to the 17th and 18th Streets intersection.
TxDOT said in a press release the configuration will last for one year and will sometimes require additional closures on the I-35 main lanes. At the same time of the traffic shift, crews will close the southbound frontage road entrance ramp south of University Parks Drive and re-open the ramp just south of 5th Street the following night.
TxDOT also said work would start on the southbound I-35 main lanes over 4th and 5th Streets this week. 4th and 5th Street could be closed at I-35 to all vehicle and pedestrian traffic for up to two nights. TxDOT said the work on that section would take three months.
There are several smaller closures in Waco starting this week as well. Crews shifted all US 84 traffic from Waco to Bellmead drives onto the westbound lanes Sunday night.
To prepare for paving work along the southbound I-35 frontage road from Loop 340 to Behrens Circle, crews will be reducing the frontage road to one lane in the area. Both closures will last four months.
The I-35 Waco project will cost $341 million. It began in the Spring of 2019 and is expected to be completed in late 2023.
TxDOT also reported a project to modify a portion of Interstate 14 starting on Monday.
"The project, designed to increase safety along I-14, will provide additional roadway capacity by adding an inside travel lane in both the east and westbound directions as well as a concrete traffic barrier between opposing travel lanes, from FM 3423 (Indian Trail) in Harker Heights to Paddy Hamilton Rd in Nolanville," TxDOT said.
The project will leave two lanes open in each direction. TxDOT said the seven-mile project will be contracted to JD Abrams, L.P. and will cost $45 million. It is scheduled for completion Summer of 2021.
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