The Texas Department of Transportation, or TxDOT, has announced the first extended road closure along I-35 in Austin, following the groundbreaking of its downtown expansion project just over a month ago.

What you need to know

The northbound I-35 bypass at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard closed Dec. 2, remaining closed to traffic through early 2025, according to an announcement made by the agency on social media.
The Martin Luther King Jr. bypass closed into early 2025 as crews work on the Texas Department of Transportation I-35 expansion project in Central Texas. (Courtesy TxDOT)
Some context

TxDOT broke ground on its $​​4.5 billion I-35 Capital Express Central infrastructure project Oct. 30, which will see the construction of two nontolled high-occupancy-vehicle, or HOV, lanes stretching roughly 8 miles from Hwy. 290 down to Hwy. 71.

The highway project will lower the main lanes from Airport Boulevard to Lady Bird Lake and remove the upper decks, making room for a separate city of Austin initiative to add deck plazas, also referred to as cap and stitch.


Crews have also begun work to reconstruct and widen the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard bridge. The entire I-35 facelift is expected to widen the corridor up to 17-22 lanes.

Looking ahead

The next segment of construction is scheduled to begin near Lady Bird Lake, from Holly Street to Hwy. 71, in early 2025.

While construction along the entire corridor is not expected to be complete until 2033, TxDOT staff have indicated that the large project is broken into smaller, “more manageable,” contracts.


As each segment gets contracted out, residents can continue to expect road closures. However, TxDOT authorities have said they remain committed to keeping three lanes of traffic open throughout the duration of construction.