This week’s planned road closures tied to the Pharr interchange upgrade and located along I-2 and I-69C have been rescheduled.
The road closures were scheduled for Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the I-2 eastbound frontage road between Second Street in McAllen and Cesar Chavez Road in San Juan, as well as on the I-69C southbound frontage road between Nolana Loop and I-2 in Pharr.
“It is more concrete activity,” said Octavio Saenz, public information officer for the Texas Department of Transportation. “We’ve been doing some utility identification. This is a bigger indication that the project is coming along.”
He explained that workers would be setting up warning signs on main lanes, but that has now been pushed back to Aug. 31.
The reason for the delay is due to the inclement weather expected to hit the Houston area this week, which is where the subcontractor is based.
“They were going to be coming down from Houston this week,” Saenz said. “Because of this weather in the Houston area, they asked to postpone it for a bit. That’s the reason why it was postponed. This particular closure that dealt with this particular subcontractor was postponed because of the menacing storm that’s coming to the Houston area.”
Despite the rescheduling of road closures, Saenz said that the project is still very much on schedule.
“Nothing has changed,” he added.
Commuters can expect closures next week in the same areas from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting on Aug. 31.
“It’s basically just material prep before they begin the actual work,” Saenz said. “The first thing they’re going to be doing is striping and installing barricades on different segments. They’re also doing environmental relocation of palm trees. That’s going to be starting on the 31st of this month. Those are the first few movements of this very orchestrated concerto.”
This is the first part of the $303 million project, which is being undertaken by Dragados-Pulice Joint Venture.
The project will improve 7.8 miles of roadway in the cities of McAllen, Pharr and San Juan, including I-2 from just west of Second Street to east of FM 2557, and I-69C from Nolana Loop to I-2, including the interchange.
“There are a lot of things happening at the same time, it’s not just one linear sequence of things,” Saenz said. “It’s multifaceted, there are a lot of different layers. Some things, as often happens with all construction, may be delayed and some things may speed up. We’re fine, as far as our deadline.”
The improvements include the full reconstruction of the I-2/I-69C interchange to include two-lane direct connectors in all four directions, reconstruction and widening of the 1-2 general purpose lanes from six to eight lanes, or four lanes in each direction, as well as reconfigurations of the main lane ramps on I-2 from Second Street to FM 2557 (Stewart Road).
The project will also improve the approaches and departures to and from the direct connectors.
