Closing one of Houston's busiest freeway interchanges always means a major pain for drivers, but that's the price of progress.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will close all mainlanes of the I-610 West Loop at I-69 Southwest Freeway from 9 pm - 5 am through the morning of Friday, May 29. Beginning that evening at 9 pm, TxDOT will close the mainlanes of I-69 in both directions through 5 am on Monday, June 1.

For this week's nightly closures, drivers may either exit 610 and stay on the frontage road until the next available on-ramp, or they can take the southbound connector ramp to I-69 and exit Chimney Rock. They will then make a U-turn at Chimney Rock and take the I-69 on-ramp to the connector ramp that will allow them to continue on 610.

TxDOT also provided this detour option for I-69:

Southbound traffic
Exit Newcastle Drive. Turn left (west) onto Richmond Avenue, then turn left (south) onto IH-610 Southbound Frontage Road. Stay right onto IH-69 Southbound Frontage Road. Take first entrance ramp onto IH 69 Southbound Mainlanes.

Northbound traffic
Take Chimney Rock Road exit, then turn right (south) onto Chimney Rock. Turn left (east) onto Westpark Drive. Turn left (north) onto Newcastle Drive. Turn right (east) onto IH-69 Northbound Frontage Road, then take first entrance ramp onto IH-69 Northbound mainlanes.

A representative from TxDOT urges the traveling public to seek an alternate route and expect delays.

The construction is part of a $259 million project to improve safety and mobility at the busy interchange by widening the connnector ramps to two lanes and improving sightlines. The 610 West Loop ranks as Texas' most congested highway.