I-35 Night Work This Week: Lane Closures Between SH 71 and SH 45 Southeast Run Sunday Through Thursday, 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., Down to One Lane in Places
The Capital Express South work zone owns Austin's nights this week. If your drive crosses I-35 south of Ben White after 8 p.m., expect one-lane stretches and closed ramps - every night through Thursday.
Night drivers on Interstate 35 in South Austin face a full work week of closures. The Texas Department of Transportation has posted varying nightly lane closures on northbound and southbound I-35 between SH 71/Ben White Boulevard and SH 45 Southeast, running Sunday, November 1, through Thursday, November 5, from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. each night, TxDOT said. In some areas I-35 is reduced to one lane, and multiple entrance and exit ramps are closed.
The closures belong to the I-35 Capital Express South project, which is adding two high-occupancy-vehicle managed lanes in each direction along that same SH 71-to-SH 45 Southeast stretch, according to TxDOT's project page. The project also brings a second, longer-running night pattern drivers will keep meeting: the flyovers from eastbound and westbound SH 71 to southbound I-35 close nightly from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., intermittently through late 2026, for bridge column work. TxDOT's signed detours send eastbound SH 71 drivers off at South Congress Avenue to the frontage road, and westbound drivers off at Burleson Road and Woodward Street.
For Monday's drives, the practical shape is simple: the daytime commute runs clear of this work - the closures begin at 8 p.m. - but anyone crossing South Austin late, including airport traffic on SH 71, should build in delay time and watch the ramp closures. TxDOT advises drivers to remain alert, follow signs and expect delays. The Capital Express South project itself runs to an anticipated completion in late 2028, weather permitting, TxDOT said.
