by PegNews wire

Especially fans from Austin, since I-35 is under construction, as it will be for years to come. So says TxDOT.

Football fans heading north to Dallas to the Texas-Oklahoma football game should plan for extra travel time this weekend due to heavy traffic and construction on Interstate 35 north of Hillsboro.

A four-mile work zone in Hill County will have lane reductions in place for northbound traffic, providing only one lane in each direction at the I-35 east/west split north of Hillsboro.

Travel lanes increase to two lanes approximately one quarter mile north of the split. Motorists heading north to Dallas should follow the signs and stay in the right lane north of Farm to Market 286 in Hillsboro in order to access the single lane leading to I-35E northbound. This construction project is part of an ongoing $1 billion effort to expand I-35 between Georgetown and Hillsboro.

Currently, 17 projects on I-35 are either underway or scheduled for construction along this 94-mile stretch of highway, through 2011. As a result, football fans and all motorists traveling through the area will contend with the possible delays for several years to come. (That's what it says in the release! That I-35 is going to be screwed for YEARS.)

One interesting factoid noted by TxDOT: Roughly 45 percent of the state’s population lives within 50 miles of I-35.

Source: TxDOT

What do you think?