I-35 Night Work This Week: Lane Closures Between Airport Boulevard and 12th Street, SH 71 Flyovers Shut Nightly, and a Full Northbound Closure South of William Cannon
TxDOT's Capital Express work stacks up after dark this week: nightly paving closures downtown through Thursday, the SH 71-to-southbound I-35 flyovers closed nightly, and northbound mainlanes between Slaughter Lane and William Cannon Drive closed completely on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
AUSTIN — The overnight map on I-35 is crowded this week, and every piece of it is Capital Express construction. Downtown, northbound and southbound I-35 between Airport Boulevard and 12th Street will see varying nightly lane closures from Monday, October 26 through Thursday, October 29, from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., for paving work, according to TxDOT Austin. Multiple entrance and exit ramps will be closed along that stretch, and the MLK bridge and both frontage roads will have varying nightly lane closures as well.
In South Austin, the biggest single hit comes on the next two nights. The northbound I-35 mainlanes between Slaughter Lane and William Cannon Drive will be closed on Tuesday, October 27 and Wednesday, October 28, from midnight to 5 a.m., for work on the elevated managed lanes, TxDOT's Capital Express South project page says. Northbound drivers will use the William Cannon Drive exit, Exit 228, continue on the northbound frontage road, and re-enter at the next available entrance ramp.
The SH 71 interchange stays on its long nightly pattern: the eastbound and westbound SH 71/Ben White Boulevard flyovers to southbound I-35 are closed nightly from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., continuing intermittently through late 2026, for bridge column work. Eastbound SH 71 drivers detour via the S. Congress Avenue exit onto the frontage road; westbound drivers use the Burleson Road/Woodward Street exit. TxDOT advises drivers to remain alert, follow signs and expect delays.
All of it is part of the Capital Express South rebuild, which is adding two high-occupancy-vehicle managed lanes in each direction along I-35 between SH 71/Ben White Boulevard and SH 45 Southeast, with reconstructed ramps and new pedestrian and bicycle paths. The $548 million project, built by Fluor Corporation and funded by CAMPO and TxDOT, started in November 2022 and is anticipated to finish in late 2028, weather permitting. Until then, the after-dark pattern is the commute: Austin drivers crossing the city late this week should pick their detour before they leave, not at the cone line.
