Austin Traffic: I-35 Lane Closures Run Again Thursday Night, Then Southbound Mainlanes Close Friday Night Between William Cannon and Slaughter

AUSTIN — Drivers on I-35 get one more night of the week's standing lane closures on Thursday, and then the corridor's largest closure of the week on Friday night. The Texas Department of Transportation says the southbound I-35 mainlanes between William Cannon Drive and Slaughter Lane will close completely on Friday, November 13, from 11 p.m. to 9 a.m., for work on the elevated managed lanes, with drivers following detour signs.

Also starting Friday, the northbound I-35 Riverside Drive bypass lane closes nightly from Friday, November 13, through Sunday, November 15, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., for utility and barrier work. TxDOT's guidance for that closure is specific: use the Oltorf Street entrance ramp to enter northbound I-35 early.

Thursday night's pattern, from the TxDOT Austin district's traffic report for the week of November 11, runs the length of the Travis County corridor: the northbound auxiliary lane is closed between Oltorf Street and the Woodland Avenue exit from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.; the southbound two left lanes are closed between Powell Lane and U.S. 290 from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.; the southbound right lane is closed between William Cannon Drive and Chaparral Road from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.; the northbound left lane is closed between U.S. 290 and Rutherford Lane from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.; and the eastbound right turn lane on William Cannon Drive approaching I-35 is closed from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.

The practical advice for the PM drive and the night that follows it: the Thursday closures are lane closures, not full closures, but Friday night's William Cannon-to-Slaughter shutdown is total in the southbound mainlanes. Anyone crossing the south end of the city late Friday should plan the frontage roads or another route before the 11 p.m. start, and northbound drivers should expect the Riverside bypass to be gone all weekend.