New Lewisville Lake bridge opening soon

It’s been a long wait for drivers, but a new freeway bridge over Lewisville Lake will be open in a matter of hours.

The new bridge will be opened to southbound traffic along Interstate 35E starting at 8 a.m. Saturday. It spans about a mile and a half and took three years to build, at a cost of $250 million.

The bridge is part of the 35 Express project, which improves and expands a 30-mile stretch of I-35E from just north of UNT in Denton to the LBJ Freeway in Dallas.

The total project is still a year from competition, but the bridge opening marks an important milestone.

Crews will begin transitioning the southbound traffic from the old bridge to the new one beginning at 9 p.m. Friday. By next weekend, the northbound lanes will also be opened on a temporary basis.

By the middle of next year, the old bridge will be reconfigured to accommodate just northbound drivers.