Thursday, April 17

New Project: Loop 337 at I-35

A new project is set to start in New Braunfels Monday, making the intersection of I-35 and Rueckle Road (Loop 337) an active construction zone through the end of the year.

The goal of the $3.2 millionroject is to open up the Rueckle Road bridge over I-35 to have multiple lanes in each direction, which will be done by eliminating the south-to-north turnaround and the raised median barriers. The intersection has an abnormally high volume of large truck traffic due to a nearby truck stop.

Most of the work - particularly the road work on Rueckle Road between I-35 and Altgelt, where we'll be expanding the road to match the expanded bridge - will be done at night to avoid heavier traffic volumes. No new bridge structure will be built. Some work will be done during the day where possible, and drivers should be aware of the constant change associated with active work zones.

Daily drivers should be aware of the early elimination of the turnaround. This will happen by the end of April, and is a permanent change. The structure used as the turnaround will be converted for use as the expanded overpass.

The contractor doing the work is Hunter Industries, the same company currently building the FM 306 job on the north side of New Braunfels and the US 281 expansion through Spring Branch. Both of those jobs are running well ahead of schedule.