ODESSA -
TRAFFIC ALERT

ODESSA - Drivers who use BI-20 [old US 80] in southeast Odessa are restricted to single lanes in each direction between East Loop 338 and the 8th Street intersection. The traffic control accommodates the current phase of the interchange construction at BI20-JBS Parkway, according to a Texas Department of Transportation official.

Dan Dalager, the TxDOT engineer in Odessa who is overseeing construction, said that westbound traffic on BI20 uses a single lane in a newly-built lane, while eastbound BI20 traffic is restricted to a single outside lane. This allows construction workers to work between the traffic lanes for the BI-20 portion of the interchange.

Drivers should slow down and be alert for equipment and workers between the traffic lanes. The posted speed limit for the area is 45 miles per hour. Traffic fines doubles in work zones when workers are present on the job.

The section affected is between 8th Street and the crossover just west of East Loop 338. The single lane condition will last until early 2009.

Dalager said that workers are building the embankments east and west of the JBS Parkway intersection, as well as the bridge/overpass structure on the BI-20 portion . Workers will be building the support structure for the east-west portion of the overpass --columns, beams, and bridge deck.

A portion of the north-south bridge/overpass is already well underway, with all the concrete beams and some of the underlying deck slabs already in place on JBS Parkway. The embankments on JBS Parkway are nearly complete and being prepared for paving.

The interchange is expected to be ready for traffic in the early Spring of 2009.

Bottom line: Commuters can use Business Interstate 20 [aka East Highway 80] in southeast Odessa for east-west commuting, but they must continue to use the BI-20 Frontage road to access JBS Parkway until the interchange is completed. The construction has disconnected John Ben Shepperd Parkway from the main lanes of BI-20.

Drivers on the BI-20 main lanes can not turn north on JBS Parkway and drivers on JBS Parkway can not access the BI-20 main lanes.

A three-way stop condition [with stop signs] allows southbound JBS Parkway traffic to turn left or right onto the frontage road, and traffic on the main lanes of BI-20 continue as east-west through traffic lanes.

Southbound JBS Parkway drivers have to use the frontage road for some distance both east and west before crossing over to the BI-20 main lanes.

The new interchange will connect two existing segments of JBS Parkway and ultimately connect to Interstate 20 near the Family Dollar distribution facility where TxDOT has finished with the other new interchange.

A joint $24.6-million Texas Department of Transportation [TxDOT] and City of Odessa project to build a new interchange spanning Business Interstate 20 [old Highway 80] and the Union Pacific railroad and connecting north and south segments of JBS Parkway in east Odessa has been underway since July.

Once the interchange is complete, motorists will be able to exit the interstate at JBS Parkway and continue north into the City of Odessa’s major retail district.

Updated on: 6/9/2008

Glen W. Larum
Public Information Officer
TxDOT, Odessa District
3901 E. Hwy 80
Odessa, Texas 79761

PH: (432) 498-4746
FAX: (432) 498-4656
Email: Glen Larum - TxDOT