Get Ready for a Trafficpocalypse This Weekend in Oak Cliff

Ah, the weekend. Your time to get away from workaday drudgery, head out into the scorching heat and pay $14 for two eggs and toast because you forgot you'd rather sleep than go out to brunch. They aren't perfect, especially in North Texas' midsummer blast furnace, but Saturdays and Sundays...

By Stephen Young

July 27, 2018

The area you want to avoid this weekend. The Southern Gateway

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18855504",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17105533",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105532",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105535",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

Ah, the weekend. Your time to get away from workaday drudgery, head out into the scorching heat and pay $14 for two eggs and toast because you forgot you'd rather sleep than go out to brunch. They aren't perfect, especially in North Texas' midsummer blast furnace, but Saturdays and Sundays beat the heck out of Mondays and Tuesdays.

Except this weekend, if you're trying to get anywhere on Interstate 35E near downtown Dallas.

Beginning Friday night at 9, all lanes of I-35E will shut down at Beckley Avenue. They won't reopen until Monday morning at 5. Both the Zang Boulevard and 12th Street overpasses will be shut down as well. Basically, you're stuck where you are this weekend if you're trying to get from Dallas to anywhere south of Dallas or from anywhere south of Dallas to Dallas.

Zang Boulevard, 12th Street and Clarendon Drive will serve as detours for all drivers foolhardy enough to get on the freeway anyway this weekend.

How the new look I-35E in southern Dallas will look in 2021.

thesoutherngateway.org

The highway is being closed to allow for the demolition of the Beckley Avenue overpass, which is being replaced as part of the $666 million Southern Gateway project. When the Southern Gateway is finished, I-35E will grow from four to five lanes both northbound and southbound for the 11-mile stretch that the project covers. Additional lanes will be added to a portion of U.S. 67 as well.

This weekend's shutdown is only the latest traffic slowdown created by the project. HOV lanes on I-35E closed in March and aren't expected to reopen until the project is completed in 2021.

KEEP THE OBSERVER FREE... Since we started the Dallas Observer, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.