SH 71 Flyovers to Southbound I-35 Close Nightly This Week for Bridge Column Work - Frontage-Road Detours Posted
Both Ben White flyovers onto southbound I-35 shut from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Thursday nights, and TxDOT's detours run down the frontage road.
The evening drive home is unaffected, but the late drive south gets a detour all week. The eastbound and westbound SH 71 flyovers to southbound I-35 will close nightly from Monday, Nov. 2 through Thursday, Nov. 5, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., for bridge column work, according to TxDOT Austin's traffic alert read this run, with Ben White Boulevard the posted route to reach southbound I-35 while the ramps are shut.
TxDOT's detours run at street level. On its official I-35 Capital Express South project page, the department directs eastbound SH 71 drivers to use the S. Congress Avenue exit and turn onto the frontage road to access the I-35 mainlanes, and westbound SH 71 drivers to use the Burleson Road/Woodward Street exit and turn onto the frontage road. Drivers should remain alert, follow the signs and expect delays, the department says.
This week's closures are one installment of a longer pattern. The same flyovers will keep closing intermittently through late 2026 on the same 9 p.m.-to-6 a.m. schedule as the bridge work advances, TxDOT says. The Capital Express South project is adding two high-occupancy-vehicle managed lanes in each direction along I-35 between SH 71/Ben White Boulevard and SH 45 Southeast; construction began in November 2022 and is expected to run to late 2028, weather permitting.
