Construction to continue on braided ramps project this Thanksgiving

Holiday shoppers be ready, construction will continue on the braided ramps project in East El Paso this Thanksgiving holiday.

The new westbound Hawkins exit ramp opened Wednesday, while the old westbound on ramp will not open until closer to Christmas, and the new flyover westbound on ramp will open in January. The eastbound Hawkins on ramp will be completed in March 2019. Drivers using the gateways in that area will see some relief with those roads returning to their two-lane capacity by Black Friday.

Crews will not be working in front of Cielo Vista Mall from now through the end of the year. On January 2, crews will close the westbound off ramp at Airway Blvd. to widen the Hawkins bridge and match exit ramp. This work is expected to be complete by the end of March 2019.

On the west side of town, parts of the Sunland Park Interchange will still be closed and under construction. The good news, all ramps will remain open. A traffic switch is expected, traffic traveling north and south on Sunland Park will remain in a limited configuration.

Construction crews will not be working on Black Friday or during the Thanksgiving weekend, no closures are expected.

The Braided Ramp project includes ramp reconfigurations and frontage road improvements; intersection improvements at Airway Boulevard, Hawkins Boulevard, and Viscount Boulevard; conversion of westbound entrance and exit ramps between Hawkins and Viscount boulevards to braided ramps and the addition of an auxiliary lane to westbound I-10 main lanes between Airway and Viscount boulevards. The project also includes new pavement markings, signs, illumination and computerized transportation management system.