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The Texas Department of Transportation is closing alternating lanes on northbound I-69 between Chimney Rock and Weslayan this weekend.
TxDOT's Danny Perez told News 88.7 that crews are doing striping work to temporarily convert the roadway from four lanes to three. That's to allow workers to have extra space to build new connectors at the 610 West Loop interchange.
"They've placed some of the bridge columns where they could without impacting traffic," explained Perez. "But now it's getting to the point where we're going to have to put bridge columns in areas where there will be some impacts."
TxDOT has ranked the I-69/610 West Loop interchange as the most congested in Texas. Contractors are now building new ramps that will eliminate the lane weaving that bogs down the flow of traffic.
"At some point you'll start to see the connector ramps taking shape," added Perez. "The connector ramps that are there now will be removed and then be replaced by new connector ramps."
The restriping work starts at 9 p.m. on Friday night. TxDOT said the roadway should be in its three-lane configuration by 5 a.m. on Monday morning and it will stay that way until early 2020. They're also planning to do restriping on the southbound side of I-69.
The entire I-69/610 West Loop interchange project won't be finished for another few years.
The new website for the I-610 West Loop/ I-69 Southwest Freeway interchange project is now live. Go to https://t.co/mvy4Uhjukp for project info, updates, closures and much more. pic.twitter.com/Q3CeBII1ma
— HOU610at69 (@HOU610at69) March 19, 2019
