DENTON (WBAP/KLIF News) – Crews are working to tear down the North Texas Boulevard Bridge across Interstate 35 in Denton.
“It will actually, when we are completed, have two lanes in each direction, two turn lanes and two Texas U-Turns,” said C.J. Schexnayder, the public information representative for the 35 Express Project. “It will be a substantially larger bridge.”
The bridge near the University of North Texas campus will be demolished starting at 8:00 p.m. Friday. Work is expected to be completed by 6:00 a.m. Monday. “This bridge is kind of unusual compared to the bridges we have along the entire 30-mile project. This is a solid concrete bridge that was built in 1958. It’s not a matter of cutting the beams or taking it apart in pieces. We actually have to hammer on it until we can get it to break down. You have a lot more debris and a lot stuff to clear out. You have to be careful how you knock it down because of safety issues. With all of those complications, we need a larger window of time to complete the demolition,” said Schexnayder.
Rain is in the forecast this weekend, but Schexnayder said it should not change the timeline. “If there is a severe rain event or lightning or hail, we will stop operations for that period of time. Rain itself doesn’t impede the demolition of the bridge.”
Detours will be set up along the frontage roads.
The entire project is expected to be completed next year.
Click to hear WBAP/KLIF’s Chelsea Wade talk with Schexnayder:
Press release from the 35 Express Project:
The North Texas Boulevard bridge across Interstate 35E is set to be demolished this weekend. Traffic across the bridge will be permanently severed at 8 p.m. Friday, April 29. Crews will demolish the bridge between 10 p.m. Friday, April 29 and 6 a.m. Monday, May 2. The bridge will be reopened with one lane in each direction and one turn lane this summer.
The following closures will be in place during the demolition:
Entrance and exit ramps:
- The northbound entrance ramp from Fort Worth Drive
- The northbound exit to McCormick Street
- The northbound entrance from McCormick Street
- The southbound exit ramp to McCormick Street
Local streets:
- Bonnie Brae Street at the southbound I-35E frontage road
- North Texas Boulevard at Eagle Drive
- North Texas Boulevard at Highland Park Road
- Kendolph Drive at Underwood Street
- Kendolph Street, Avenue C and Collier Street will be closed to through at Eagle Drive and closed at the northbound frontage road.
Mainlane detours during the demolition of the bridge:
- Northbound I-35E Traffic: Motorists will exit the interstate at North Texas Boulevard, travel north along the frontage road and reenter northbound I-35E just north of North Texas Boulevard.
- Southbound I-35E Traffic: Motorists will exit the interstate at North Texas Boulevard, travel south along the frontage road and reenter the interstate at the next entrance ramp south of North Texas Boulevard.
A detour map can be found here.
Local traffic detours during demolition of the bridge:
- Local traffic wishing to reach southbound I-35E will travel south on Bonnie Brae Street, turn east on Willowwood Street, turn north on McCormick Street to reach the southbound I-35E frontage road.
- Local traffic wishing to reach northbound I-35E will travel north on McCormick Street, west on Eagle Drive, North on North Texas Boulevard, west on Prairie Street, south on Bonnie Brae Street to the northbound frontage road.
A detour map can be found here.
Detours during the closure of the bridge:
Once the bridge is demolished, traffic on the north- and southbound frontage roads will not stop at the North Texas Boulevard intersection. Traffic from North Texas Boulevard will have designated turn lanes which yield to the frontage roads.
While the bridge is being reconstructed, traffic wishing to access North Texas Boulevard will use the following detours:
- Southbound I-35E traffic will continue to the Fort Worth Drive exit, make a U-turn and continue on the northbound frontage road to North Texas Boulevard.
- Northbound I-35E traffic will exit at McCormick Street and continue on the northbound frontage road to North Texas Boulevard.
- Northbound North Texas Boulevard traffic will turn right onto the southbound frontage road, turn left at McCormick Street, left onto the northbound frontage road and return to North Texas Boulevard.
- Southbound North Texas Boulevard traffic will turn right onto the northbound frontage road, turn left at Bonnie Brae Street then left onto the northbound frontage road and return to North Texas Boulevard.
Once construction is complete, the newly widened bridge will have two through lanes in each direction, two designated turn lanes in each direction and a Texas U-turn lane on both ends of the bridge. A 15-foot-wide pedestrian walkway will be constructed on the west side of the new structure. The bridge will fully open to traffic this fall.
This work is related to the 35Express project, an expansion of I-35E between U.S. Highway 380 in Denton County and I-635 in Dallas County. All closures are subject to weather conditions and may be postponed, if necessary.
For more information on the 35Express project and to sign up to receive traffic alerts, please visit www.35Express.org or call 214-483-7777.
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