Gulf Freeway is said to have been under construction since, well, forever

Thursday, May 2, 2019
GALVESTON, Texas (KTRK) -- If you're heading to Galveston, you don't want to get caught in the Gulf Freeway construction.

Drivers in League City and Dickinson are bracing themselves for even more delays as the project progresses.

"I think it stinks, and the traffic is terrible. You can't get anywhere," driver Derek Selva said.

Businesses, like Coco Crepes in League City, say they are feeling the delays.

"Since the construction, we've kind of slowed down," Coco Crepes employee Jonathon Brown said.

The project to widen the freeway south of Beltway 8 all the way to the Galveston causeway has been going on for nearly a decade.

Right now, the heaviest concentration of roadwork is at FM-646 right in front of the restaurant.

"With FM-646 shut down, everything being shut down, it's kind of hard to get here," Brown said.

TxDOT says there crews are making a big switch by demolishing the FM-646 bridge over I-45, widening the freeway and getting ready to route the I-45 mainlanes over FM-646.

"What we are trying to do is make sure we are expanding these roadways and meeting the demand of today and tomorrow," Danny Perez with TxDOT said.

The construction will cause a slower than normal trip to the coast, but there will be some clear weekends.

TxDOT is not planning to shut down the freeway on Memorial Day weekend, July 4th weekend or Labor Day weekend.

"When it is finished, it will flow a lot better," driver Patrick McCall said.

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