TxDOT breaks ground on $1.5 billion project to add six elevated lanes to congested stretch of I-35

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The groundbreaking of the new project at I-35 Northeast Expansion occurred Wednesday.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) on Wednesday broke ground on the Interstate 35 Northeast Expansion Central project, a $1.5 billion venture that will add six elevated lanes to a hellishly congested stretch of I-35.

According to the San Antonio Report, construction on the project, called I-35 NEX Central, is set to begin this summer and be completed by 2027.

It will add six elevated lanes to the stretch of I-35 from the Loop 410 interchange north to FM 3009 in Schertz, an area which sees over 200,000 vehicles a day travel though it.

“We’re in the heart of growth, and that’s a good thing,” chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission J. Bruce Bugg Jr. said during the groundbreaking ceremony in the Santikos Galaxy Theater parking lot near the I-35 and Loop 410 interchange. “But with that growth and population comes what we’re dealing with out here — and that is congestion.”

I-35 NEX Central is one of several roadway construction projects intended to reduce congestion in Texas’ largest cities, the San Antonio Report states. The projects are slated for metro areas where populations are expected to grow by 55% to 110% in the next two decades.

TxDOT spokeswoman Laura Lopez told the Report that it’s too soon to know how construction on the project will affect travel times.

“We’re definitely going to try to keep the main lanes open as much as possible,” Lopez said. 

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