Major I-35 closure next weekend

UPDATE: Closure on I-35 scheduled for August 25-28 has been cancelled as of August 22. Closure on I-10 is still scheduled.


If you haven't heard by now, we have major closures of I-10 at Fair Oaks Parkway planned this weekend and next weekend. We just got word from our field staff of another closure you'll want to know about.

When
Friday, August 25 at 9 p.m. until Monday, August 28 at 5 a.m.

Where
I-35 main lanes at New Braunfels Avenue on the east side of San Antonio. Also, the New Braunfels Avenue overpass at I-35.

What
We're closing the main lanes of I-35 while crews demolish the old New Braunfels Avenue overpass. Traffic will exit New Braunfels Avenue, move through the intersection and re-enter the highway at the first available ramp. Off-duty officers will help move traffic through the New Braunfels Avenue intersection.

We are also closing the New Braunfels Avenue overpass. Traffic on New Braunfels Avenue will have right-in, right-out only access during this weekend's closure. Those hoping to cross over I-35 should do so at Walters or Pine to do so.

Why
This closure enables crews to safely demolish the old bridge, which we are replacing with this project. Any time we do work like this overhead we close the road so we don't risk catastrophe with people underneath. In this case the bridge will be demolished and pieces of the bridge will be falling onto the road beneath.

Don't worry about that road, though. Before we start the demolition crews will spread a thick bed of sand or dirt on the road to cushion the fall of debris and ensure the road is protected. After the debris is cleared away that dirt bed will be scooped and swept up. Once the work is finished and the main lanes of the highway are deemed safe we will open things up.
And no, we won't use dynamite like crews did up in Marble Falls a couple of years ago. Our guys will be using excavators mounted with hydraulic jackhammers. Not super exciting or as fun to watch as the Marble Falls bridge demo was, but it gets the job done.

Worth noting
This is one of two bridge demolitions occurring in the San Antonio area during the weekend of August 25-28. As we pointed out to begin this post, the other will be on I-10 at Fair Oaks Parkway.