MCLENNAN COUNTY, Texas (KXXV) — Construction is set to begin on the I-35 Waco South Project in the next couple of months. The project stretching from S Loop 340 to 12th Street will reconstruct and widen the six main lanes to eight lanes. The project will have Utility and drainage upgrades along the corridor.
- The reconstruction is intended to improve safety and mobility while reducing congestion and increasing traffic capacity.
- The project construction is estimated to cost $248 million dollars.
- Local businesses are uncertain about how the construction will affect customer traffic.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Rene’s Mexican Restaurant has sat alongside I35 near 18th Street for the past 25 years. And they’ve been hearing about the I35 lane expansion from south loop 340 to 12th street since 2012.
“Now we’re just waiting,” the owner of Rene’s Restaurant and Bakery, Cristina Hernandez, said.
Cristina Hernandez said in 2012, TxDOT requested to purchase a portion of her land alongside the feeder road. She and several other businesses made the sale, but she was lucky because TXDOT didn’t need much of her land.
“The other businesses, they were going to use more land, so they sold everything,” she said.
And now, that land is to be a part of the reconstructing and widening of I-35 from 6 lanes to 8. That also includes reconstructing overpasses, frontage roads and even adding sidewalks.
But those additions could potentially leave pro-fit tint without part of their driveway.
“Is it going to keep people from getting into our shop and getting work done?” the owner of Pro-Fit Tint, Anthony Columbus, said.
I got the chance to talk with a couple of different businesses on how they think construction could impact locals getting to their doors—
“How do you think the construction is going to impact you?” asked 25News reporter Dominique Leh.
“There’s no way to know if it’s going to largely impact us, but we are ready for what’s going to happen to happen,” said Hernandez.
Construction is set to begin early this year with plans for completion in 2029, a four year time frame business owners hope won’t be detrimental to their sales.
“That’s a long time for a business to try to sustain itself with stuff like this coming through,” Columbus said.
“We’re ready and prepared, and we pray to god that it doesn’t affect us a lot because our workers rely on their jobs,” Hernandez said.
