AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Crews will finish work to implode sections of an old flyover bridge connecting Interstate 35 with U.S. Highway 183 Saturday morning, including giving a young leukemia survivor the chance to push the big button.
The work is part of the ongoing improvements to I-35 between Rundberg Lane and U.S. Highway 290.
The Texas Department of Transportation has teamed up with Make-A-Wish Central and South Texas to give six-year old Archer the honors of hitting the button that will bring down the final two spans needing to be removed.
The work is scheduled to happen between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. Saturday morning. Crews will shut down traffic in all directions through the interchange for about 20 minutes while the implosion takes place.
The existing flyover is being demolished so that crews can build a longer flyover with less of an incline in its place - something that TxDOT officials say has contributed to backups at the interchange since the existing flyover first opened in 1997. The project also calls for a new northbound bypass lane at St. John’s Avenue and a new entrance ramp to northbound I-35.
Construction on the new flyover approach is expected to take about four months to complete. In the interim, drivers are being detoured north to Rundberg Lane, where a special U-turn sends drivers to southbound I-35 and a new flyover connecting to both directions of U.S. 183.