AMARILLO, TEXAS -- If you feel like you've noticed more construction zones and orange cones around the Amarillo area, you're probably right. The Texas Department of Transportation is working is several areas around Amarillo and want to remind motorists to be careful in those areas.
The eastbound lane on I-40 has been closed since Thursday around the intersections of Georgia and I-40 and Crockett and I-40 for a bridge repair project. TxDOT will also be closing on westbound lane on I-40 later this week in those same areas. Both of those lane closures will remain in effect for the next six to eight weeks.
Also kicking off Monday was the construction on the bridge over Loop 335 or what's more commonly known as St. Francis. TxDOT says that bridge will be closed and traffic will be redirected from US 87, to the frontage roads, then back to the highway. The bridge is expected to reopen late this fall, but as a part of a several month project, crews will continue to work on other bridges on US 87 headed toward Dumas.
Another project TxDOT is still working on but expect to wrap up soon is the Grand Street overpass project. Paul Braun, a spokesperson for TxDOT, said that construction should be finished by mid to late July of 2012.
TxDOT will also be closing the right-side driving lane headed northbound on I-27 between Sundown and Bell Street this coming Wednesday. That maintenance project will be a short one, though. TxDOT expects that lane to be reopened by the end of the week.
Braun said many of these projects are thanks in part to a $74 million funding increase the TxDOT Amarillo District received.
"We are using that all over the district to do some projects that normally would have gone undone until we could get the funding," said Braun. "So, through the Proposition 12 process we were abel to get a lot more money and yes, this is a very busy 2012 construction season."
