Staff Report
Gainesville Daily Register
Gainesville —
Representatives of Ed Bell Construction, the contractor for the Texas Department of Transportation on Interstate 35, plan to have two freeway closures during the next week on the interstate.
The closures will be conducted in order to set the bridge beams at the U.S. Highway 82 bridge over the interstate. The work will be done at night but is still expected to cause traffic congestion. The freeway will close at 7 p.m. and be reopened at 6 a.m. Ed Bell workers plan to perform the job over two nights.
On Monday night, beginning at 7 p.m. workers will close the northbound Interstate 35 main lanes and detour traffic onto the frontage road while they set the beams over the northbound lanes. By 6 a.m. Tuesday, crews should have the northbound lanes reopened to traffic.
And on Tuesday night beginning at 7 p.m., crews will close the southbound Interstate 35 main lanes and detour traffic onto the frontage road while we set the beams over the southbound lanes. By 6 a.m. Wednesday morning, crews should have the southbound lanes reopened to traffic.
The team will only close one direction at a time, but heavy traffic congestion is expected along the frontage road and backing up onto the interstate, since interstate traffic will have to go through the signals at the intersection of the frontage road and the highway. It is also expected that the highway will experience congestion and delays due to the higher volumes of traffic on the frontage roads.
The plan to assist in traffic flow is to put a person at the signal controller at the interstate frontage roads and the highway intersection operating the signals. Turn movements and through movements will still be provided for highway traffic, but the team will place a higher emphasis on keeping interstate traffic moving.
Representatives of Ed Bell Construction have placed message boards along the interstate since Monday to warn motorists of the upcoming closures.
For more information, call (940) 665-5071.
