AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has announced the first extended road closure on Interstate 35 in Austin as construction begins on the downtown expansion project.
TxDOT announced that from now through early 2025, the northbound I-35 bypass at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard will be closed. During this time, traffic will remain on the northbound frontage road instead of taking the bypass.
TxDOT broke ground on the $4.5 billion I-35 Capital Express Central project in late October. Planned updates include the construction of two carpool lanes between U.S. 290 and State Highway 71, lowering the main lanes from Airport Boulevard to Lady Bird Lake to remove the interstate's upper decks, making room for a cap-and-stitch initiative that will add plazas above the interstate.
Crews have also begun to work on reconstructing and widening the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard bridge.
The next segment of construction is scheduled to begin early next year, near Lady Bird Lake, from Holly Street to SH 71.
Construction on the entire corridor isn't expected to be completed for nearly a decade.