The Farm to Market Road 989/Kings Highway bridge over Interstate 30 in Texarkana will be closed to all traffic beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday as crews prepare to replace the structure. Work to rebuild the structure is estimated to take about 19 months to complete.

Traffic Diversion

To accommodate the demolition of the bridge, which crews will remove with heavy equipment, all I-30 traffic through Texarkana will be diverted to the frontage roads starting at midnight Saturday for about a week, weather permitting, according to a news release from the Texas Department of Transportation.

I-30 westbound traffic will be diverted to the frontage roads at Exit 222/Summerhill Road and can reenter the interstate at the new entrance ramp west of Kings Highway. Eastbound traffic will be diverted at Exit 218/Kings Highway and can reenter the interstate at the entrance ramp between Summerhill Road and State Line Avenue.

Motorists on the frontage roads will travel through the intersections at Kings Highway without stopping. Motorists on Kings Highway will stop at the intersections with the frontage roads.

New Bridge Features

The new bridge will be built to the vertical clearance requirement of 18.5 feet. The current bridge’s clearance is less than 17 feet. The bridge also will be wider to accommodate a wider Kings Highway.

“The new bridge will be a five-lane section consisting of one 12-foot-wide inside lane in each direction, one 14-foot-wide outside shared-use lane in each direction and a 16-foot flush median,” TxDOT Texarkana Area Engineer Dana C. Moore said.

The shared-use lane will accommodate motorists and cyclists. For pedestrians, there will be 6-foot-wide sidewalks on each side.

An east-to-west turnaround bridge will be built on the west side of the FM 989 bridge. The west-to-east turnaround bridge on the east side will remain in place but will be closed during construction.

When traffic is returned to I-30, motorists will see a new traffic pattern in the eastbound lanes as work to widen the interstate through Texarkana progresses. Details regarding the new configuration will be released soon, according to TxDOT.

Westbound lanes will have temporary concrete traffic barrier removed and will be restored to two, traditional side-by-side travel lanes.

Once construction to widen the interstate is complete, three lanes will be open in each direction.

Travelers can check traffic updates at drivetexas.org.

Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.