US 59-Southwest Freeway Closed For Weekend Construction

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, January 19, 2006

The Texas Department of Transportation will close US 59-Southwest Freeway in both directions, north and southbound, for the last phase of construction of the new bridges spanning the freeway at Montrose Avenue. The Southwest Freeway will be closed from 9 PM Friday, January 20, to 5 AM Monday morning, January 23, 2006. Reconstruction of the Southwest Freeway between Mandell and Main Street has progressed rapidly and the completed project will be finalized this spring.

Two arched bridges identical to the Houston Gateway will span US 59 at Montrose; a single bridge will carry traffic for Graustark. Information on the US-59/Spur 527 project is available online at traffic.houstontranstar.org/us59-spur527.

Northbound motorists on US 59-Southwest Freeway will be detoured to the frontage road at Weslayan for weekend access to Greenway Plaza and the commercial centers adjacent to the freeway. To access areas beyond Main Street, motorists should detour to alternative routes at IH 610-West Loop. Southbound motorists will be detoured at Texas 288-South Freeway. Southbound mainlanes and frontage roads will be open to traffic at Shepherd/Greenbriar.

Montrose Avenue will be closed between Richmond and Banks and the outbound lanes of Spur 527 will also be closed. On Montrose Avenue, all businesses and restaurants will be accessible up to the US 59 overpass. Motorists are encouraged to plan for alternative routes to avoid congestion in the area during this weekend’s construction closure of US 59-Southwest Freeway.

The closure of the southbound connector ramp from IH 610-West Loop to US 59-Southwest Freeway northbound has been canceled and will be rescheduled.

For more information, contact the Public Information Office at (713) 802-5072.