Expect weekend gridlock due to I-69 closure at Loop 610
Plan for some downtime in traffic through parts of Uptown and Bellaire this weekend, as southbound Interstate 69 is closed for work at the Loop 610 interchange.
Crews will close the southbound freeway lanes from Weslayan to Chimney Rock at 9 p.m. Friday, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. The lanes will re-open by 5 a.m. Monday.
“We are encouraging people to avoid the area if possible and to drive cautiously through these areas,” TxDOT spokeswoman Emily Black said.
Northbound lanes of I-69 and ramps to and from the freeway and Loop 610 will remain open. Officials suggested taking I-69 southbound to Loop 610 northbound and making a U-turn at San Felipe. From there, drivers can re-enter Loop 610 headed south and access southbound I-69. The exit from southbound I-69 to Newcastle also will remain open, Black said.
The closure is necessary for crews to pour foundations for support pillars that will carry the new ramp from southbound Loop 610 to northbound I-69, officials said, part of a $259 million rebuild of the interchange.
Workers are rebuilding all of the connections between Loop 610 and I-69, as well as all of the main lanes of the Loop through the area, while keeping the freeway
open during construction. Work remains on pace for completion in 2023, officials said, but has been a challenge for some drivers trying to navigate closed exits and frontage roads north and south of the interchange, as well as reduced lanes on others.
“It feels like getting strangled, or what I suspect it feels like getting strangled,” Cary Ross, 37, said last week.
Ross, who works at a hotel along Sage near the interchange, said the loss of lanes and confusion of the construction zone have not only made his own commute more difficult, but also added to his job as he advises visitors how to get around in the oft-changing construction zone.
In June, construction closed one lane of I-69 in each direction, leaving northbound and southbound drivers with three lanes for the next few months. That adds pressure to what already is, by many measures, the busiest interchange in the state where the most congested freeway segment in the state — Loop 610 through Uptown — meets the second-most congested segment — I-69 from the Loop to Texas 288.
Since beginning construction 20 months ago, transportation officials have said the project is intended to remedy some of that congestion, but will lead to delays as Williams Brothers Construction rebuilds the lanes.