The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) put into effect the first extended road closure connected to the Interstate 35 Expansion Project in Austin this week. The project aims to improve safety, mobility and enhance bicycle and walking paths.
The northbound I-35 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard bypass lane will be closed until early 2025, according to TxDOT officials. The project will construct two non-tolled high-occupancy-vehicle managed lanes in each direction along I-35 from U.S. Route 290 East to SH 71/Ben White Boulevard.
It will also lower the main lanes from Airport Boulevard to Lady Bird Lake, remove the upper decks, improve transit connections, add boulevard-style segments through downtown and enhance pedestrian and bicycle paths along the corridor.
"I have learned that this project has been in the works for many decades, even going back to the 1980s, looking at more ways to make travel more efficient through downtown Austin," said TxDOT Austin District Engineer Tucker Ferguson.
TxDOT also is working with the city of Austin and the University of Texas at Austin to add deck caps on nearly 40 acres of space to help connect East and West Austin.
Construction will impact drivers until 2028.
Source: Fox 7 Austin, Yahoo
