U.S. Highway 75 To Be Closed In Plano For Bridge Demolition
PLANO (CBSDFW.COM) - Expect some big traffic delays when traveling through Plano this weekend. Construction crews will be demolishing the Plano Parkway bridge, and that will keep U.S. Highway 75 closed in both directions from 2:00 a.m. on Saturday until 5:00 a.m. on Monday.
Motorists traveling both northbound and southbound between 15th Street and Renner Road will be forced onto a detoured path on the frontage roads. This closure also includes the entrance and exit ramps to and from the President George Bush Turnpike, so additional delays are expected along that highway too.
The northbound HOV lane between Interstate-635 and Galatyn Parkway will be closed as well.
Those drivers looking for alternate routes will likely want to utilize Alma Drive or even Custer Road to the west of the closed highway. To the east, the best option will be Plano Road and Avenue K. Any of these roadways should see far less backup than what is expected along Highway 75 this weekend.
The bridge is being rebuilt because the current columns prevent the widening of lanes on 75.
The railroad bridge parallel to it is also being rebuilt.
Those will be back open next week.
The other part of the project will take several months.
TxDOT is reconfiguring lanes on 75 so people exiting onto the Bush Turnpike or onto 75 from Bush don't have to cross paths with drivers exiting other roads.
"Right now you have a lot of traffic that's coming off the Bush Turnpike and wanting to get onto Central and you have people who are weaving and wanting to get off of Central onto the side streets and they are weaving together and conflicting and that really causes traffic to slow down," said Tony Hartzel of TxDOT.
This entire project will be completed early next year.