I-35 Closes in Both Directions Tonight: Northbound Shuts Down at Braker for 12 Hours, Southbound Drops to One Lane at Slaughter
TxDOT closes all northbound I-35 main lanes at Braker Lane from 9 p.m. Wednesday to 9 a.m. Thursday, with traffic detouring to the frontage road — while southbound lanes at Slaughter Lane narrow to one lane from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Both closures are Capital Express construction.
Austin's heaviest construction corridor closes in both directions tonight, in two different places. All northbound I-35 main lanes at Braker Lane will close for 12 hours, from 9 p.m. Wednesday to 9 a.m. Thursday, according to TxDOT's closure listing as reported by KXAN, with northbound drivers detouring onto the northbound frontage road from Braker Lane to Metric Boulevard. The work sits in the Capital Express North segment, between Braker Lane and Howard Lane.
At the other end of the city, southbound I-35 at Slaughter Lane will narrow to a single lane — main lanes and frontage road — from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday, October 28-29, per the same listing, and the southbound exit ramp at Slaughter Lane may close during the work, in the Capital Express South segment. The practical advice for Wednesday-night and early-Thursday drivers is the same at both ends: expect the frontage roads to carry the load, and allow extra time anywhere near Braker or Slaughter.
Both closures belong to the multi-year rebuild of I-35 through Austin. TxDOT puts the Capital Express North project at $4.5 billion, adding one high-occupancy-vehicle lane in each direction along with intersection, bicycle-and-pedestrian and cap-and-stitch work, while the $1.4 billion Capital Express South project adds two HOV lanes in each direction, rebuilds entrance and exit ramps and intersections, and adds bicycle and pedestrian paths and water-quality ponds. Nightly closures of this kind are the standing pattern for the duration of both projects.
