Nakoma turnaround at U.S. 281 to close for six months

Saturday the right lane of north-bound U.S. Highway 281—along with both lanes of the Bitters Road exit and the left lane of the north-bound frontage road—will be closed while crews knock out the first two spans of the north-to-south turnaround at Nakoma Drive.

The closure will begin Saturday morning and should be lifted by Sunday morning. Bridge crews will operate excavator machines fitted with pneumatic jackhammers—often called “peckers” — to break apart the portions of the turnaround that will be rebuilt. The equipment will not exceed height restrictions imposed by the FAA.

The turnaround bridge at Nakoma, highlighted in red above, will be closed for six months.

The work on the Nakoma turnaround—which is being adjusted to make room for the adjusted lanes of the Bitters Road exit ramp, which will become the future Wurzbach Parkway exit ramp—will require the turnaround to close for six months. The new exit ramp will be shifted south several hundred feet, allowing traffic from the ramp to safely cross the lanes of the frontage road before reaching the future entrance ramp for the parkway. Support columns and beams for the turnaround will be moved to make room for the new ramp.

While the turnaround is closed, traffic will need to drive through the intersection—through the traffic signals—in order to move from the north-bound frontage road to the south-bound frontage road. Once the new columns are in place and the turnaround is rebuilt, traffic will return to its use.

Also on deck for this area is the construction of a south-to-north turnaround bridge at Nakoma, which is required for some of the traffic movements at the future intersection of the parkway and U.S. 281. That construction will take place in conjunction with other work in the area (some of the work has already been done, in fact).

A new Bitters Road exit will be built closer to the actual intersection, and will be braided with the entrance ramp from Wurzbach Parkway and Nakoma Drive.

More information on the Wurzbach Parkway project may be found here.