HOUSTON — Get ready for what’s expected to be a traffic nightmare this weekend.
A major portion of Loop 610 will be shut down as crews work on a bus lane project.
The lanes just for buses will carry people to their destinations faster than sitting in traffic in normal lanes.
All lanes going south on 610 near Memorial Park will be shut down starting Friday night.
Emily Black, public information officer for TxDOT, said the West Loop from I-10 to Post Oak Boulevard will be closed.
“This closure is because we are hanging steel beams over the freeway so they’re working on the bridge right here, so we have to close down the main lanes of the freeway because we can’t have cars driving under where people are working on top of,” Black said.
Most people who live in this area know about these closures.
“The past two weekends we haven’t seen any major issues with traffic because we’re really cutting off access to the area so that’s sending drivers throughout Houston to go around the closure mostly," Black said.
However, a scheduled closure on Thursday night hit a snag because there was just too much traffic, and some drivers broke laws to get around it.
"I have no idea what people are going to do. That area is so busy already," said Jenae Johnson, a driver.
Dozens of drivers could be seen driving the wrong way on an on ramp Thursday night to avoid the traffic. However, the weekend closure starts farther back so officials with Texas Department of Transportation don't expect it to be a problem.
To keep drivers away this weekend, Black said crews will cut off access to the connector ramps at I-10 and 290 that feed cars onto the southbound lanes of the West Loop.
Black admitted these total closures are a pain but they ask drivers to follow the detours. She said it will keep drivers from going the wrong way.
Black said drivers should expect more closures like this in the future but added the project should be finished by early next summer.
Houston Police are monitoring traffic. Drivers can be ticketed for going the wrong way. The lanes are all expected to re-open sometime Sunday.
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