Most of Sunland Park Interchange expected to be open by Black Friday

Most of the Sunland Park Interchange is expected to be opened for Black Friday, said Bob Bielek, the district engineer in El Paso for the Texas Department of Transportation.

The interchange was expected to be completely operational by Black Friday, and finished by the end of the year, but TxDOT ran into some issues that caused delays, Bielek said.

“We had some rain a couple of weeks ago and we uncovered a sprint fiber optic line on the Mesa Interchange that took Sprint about 30 days to get relocated,” Bielek said, “This week, we’ve had cold weather which has prevented us from putting down hot mix asphalt.”

TxDOT and the construction company have redeveloped the schedule to try to get a couple of things accomplished by Black Friday.

Depending on weather, the hot mix asphalt will be laid Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in preparation for a 27-hour closure starting Sunday morning.

Sunland Park will be closed starting Sunday at 3 a.m. and is scheduled to be reopened Monday at 6 a.m.

All entrances and exits will be closed, as well as Sunland Park Drive.

To help shoppers on Black Friday, Bielek said, TXDOT will try to keep as many lanes open and stay out of the way of the public.