Denton Counts $5.4 Billion in TxDOT Road Work — and the Next I-35 North Segment Is Ready to Bid This Month
Eleven projects, three already under construction, one letting in November: the city's October mobility report is the map of why Denton County drives through construction now — and why it will for years.
DENTON — Tonight's full closure of I-35E (9 p.m. to 5 a.m., both directions, North Texas Boulevard to Bonnie Brae) is one line item in a much larger ledger. State highway projects in and around Denton add up to about $5.37 billion in estimated construction costs, according to the city's October mobility report — 11 TxDOT projects tracked by the consultants who brief the City Council, and the reason Denton County's drive is a construction zone in every direction at once.
Three of the majors are already in the ground. The I-35/35E/35W merge rebuild — the job behind tonight's bridge-work closure — runs about $588.8 million with a finish targeted for January 2030. The I-35E interchange at Mayhill Road is $123.5 million, started in January, aimed at April 2029, already carrying a noted 120-day contract delay. The I-35 widening from FM 455 to View Road is $128.7 million, started in February, targeted for March 2029. Next in line, the I-35 segment north of Denton from north of Rector Road to FM 455 is listed as ready to let for construction this month, November 2026 — the pipeline is not slowing. Behind it queue Milam Road to Rector Road (August 2027) and U.S. 77 to Milam Road (November 2028), while the stretches farther north toward the Cooke County line remain pending funding.
The biggest single number on the page is not funded at all: the Outer Loop from I-35 to the Dallas North Tollway, roughly 23 miles, estimated near $1.55 billion with no construction money yet attached — its schematic approval and environmental clearance are targeted for December. Two disciplines for reading a ledger like this one, both stated in the report itself: these are state construction estimates, not a new Denton city property-tax bond; and a let date is a bid opening, not a ribbon. For PM-drive purposes the translation is simpler. Denton's $5.4 billion is already bought, sequenced and — for the next segment — about to be bid. North Texas's north side drives inside this program for the rest of the decade.
