Due to forecasted rainfall next week, the lane closures and detours have been rescheduled for Sunday, March 25 and Monday, March 26. These dates may again change based on the weather.

Brownwood News – As progress continues on the construction of a new Fort Worth & Western Railroad bridge crossing over US 84/183 between Early and Zephyr, motorists can expect delays and detours on March 25-26, 2018. Since major construction of the new bridge is now complete and open to railroad operation, crews will be dismantling the temporary bridge that was constructed last year.

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On Sunday, March 25, the highway will be closed for up to 15 minutes at a time between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Motorists can expect delays as these intermittent closures will allow crews to demolish the outside spans of the temporary bridge.

On Monday, March 26, for the 4-hour period between approximately 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., all traffic will be detoured between the communities of Zephyr and Blanket as crews demolish the rest of the temporary bridge.

Travelers heading out of Brownwood/Early towards Zephyr/Goldthwaite will be detoured to US 67/377 to Blanket, then south on FM 1467 to Zephyr.

Travelers heading towards Brownwood/Early from Zephyr/Goldthwaite will be detoured to FM 1467 to Blanket, then into Early on US 67/377.

As the length of the detour is approximately 20 miles, travelers should allow substantially more time to reach their destinations.

The new railroad bridge will allow US 84/183 to be widened from two to four, 12-foot lanes with the addition of a center left turn lane, removing the bottleneck by matching the existing four-lane roadway on either side of the bridge. Construction of the $12.4 million project is expected to be completed this summer.

TxDOT’s Brownwood District includes Brown, Coleman, Comanche, Eastland, Lampasas, McCulloch, Mills, San Saba and Stephens counties.

For news media inquiries, contact Andrew.Carlson@TxDOT.gov or (325) 643-0413.