Icy road conditions today led the Texas Dept. of Transportation (TxDOT) to extend the closure of I-10 from Fort Stockton to San Antonio, a stretch that spans over 300 miles.
There is no word on when I-10 will reopen. As of 8:30 a.m. today, TxDOT said travel conditions continued to be hazardous. “It may be until the weather gets better…hopefully we’ll get above the freezing point and get to a more Texas winter,” Randall Dillard, director of the Public Information Office of TxDOT told FleetOwner.
In addition, westbound I-20 is closed six miles east of Ranger, TX, and in Austin all flyovers and elevated sections of I-35 are closed. In San Antonio I-410 and U.S. 90 are closed.
In central Texas, the primary tools TxDOT has at its disposal are deicers and sand trucks, Dillard said. But the freezing precipitation was described as widespread.
I-10 is a major east-west truck route. “I would assume I-10 is certainly a hardship on truckers trying to travel, not only from a NAFTA standpoint but also for truckers crossing from adjacent states,” Dillard said. “We worked with the [Texas] Dept. of Public Safety [and the closure was] a decision we made from a safety standpoint.”
Closure information is available via the TxDOT website and the TxDOT hotline at 800-452-9292.
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