WACO, Texas — Construction on Interstate 35 is nearing completion, and the near four-year project is ahead of schedule for finishing the road work.
TxDot says the construction has improved accessibility for drivers getting on and off the highway.
It says the construction had to be done in order to keep up with the growing population in Central Texas.
Many Waco drivers have dealt with I-35 road construction.
The project started in 2019, which sometimes caused major delays for drivers like Joe Kling.
“When you’d come up on the north side of Waco, you could see that traffic backed up and you kind of roll your eyes and say 'Oh, it's going to be another 45 minutes', so now that its's complete, it’s a total sigh of relief,” Kling said.
Baylor University students say the new traffic lights at the University Parks intersection and Fourth and Fifth street are signs of progress.
“Recently they just switched from stop signs to stop lights, which has been amazing and has made driving a lot more easy and accessible," Tallya Nguyen and Vickie Wang, students at Baylor University, said.
Widened main lanes and frontage roads were the goal of the project, keeping up with growth in Central Texas.
“Right now, we’re looking at the April time frame (weather permitting) for the bulk of the work to be completed that you're seeing out there — and the project is still on track to be on budget and ahead of schedule," TxDot Waco Public Information Officer Jake Smith said.
TxDot says it thanks the community for their patience throughout the construction.
