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The Texas Department of Transportation, or TxDOT, oversees Texas transportation and is headquartered in Austin. The Texas Legislature created the organization in 1917, although the agency has had several names throughout the past century.TxDOT is run by a five-member commission and an executive director selected by the commission. Commission members are appointed by the governor, with the advice of the Texas Senate, and serve overlapping six-year terms.The department is divided into 25 districts, each of which oversees construction and maintenance of state highways. Austin’s district includes Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Gillespie, Hays, Lee, Llano, Mason, Travis and Williamson counties.In Austin, the organization encompasses entities including Capital Metro; the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, known as CAMPO; the city’s transportation department; and the chamber of commerce. TxDOT organized the “Don’t Mess with Texas” anti-litter campaign, which began in 1986. Also, it runs the TxTag program, which bills drivers for highway tolls by scanning a sticker on the driver’s windshield at toll stations.

Flyover Work Means Weekend Closures Of U.S. 183 At I-35

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Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon
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KUT
U.S. 183 northbound at I-35 will be closed this weekend.

If it’s a weekend, it likely means drivers in North Austin have to navigate around road construction. This time, it's a closure of northbound U.S. 183 at I-35 from Friday at 9 p.m. through Monday at 5 a.m.

Crews will set large steel beams for a new flyover in the area. Drivers are encouraged to use U.S. 290 to avoid the closure. The following weekend, the southbound side of U.S. 183 will be closed for similar work.

It’s all part of the ongoing construction project on I-35 between Rundberg Lane and U.S. 290 east in North Austin.

“We’re building several flyovers there at U.S. 188; this is really going to help traffic move more efficiently once those flyovers are built,” said Brad Wheelis, a spokesman for TxDOT. “This is a huge undertaking, so folks can expect more closures as we build out these flyovers.”

The overall project is expected to be finished in 2021.

Got a tip? Email Samuel King at samuel@kut.org. Follow him @SamuelKingNews.

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