TxDOT representatives and city staff told the City of Denton Mobility Committee on Oct. 22 that major highway projects in the northern Denton corridor — including the I‑35 North “merge” work, the Mayhill interchange and the 288/380 connector — are advancing through design and environmental review but will take several years to complete because of right‑of‑way (ROW) holds, utility relocations and constrained budgets.

The update was delivered by John Polster, identified in the meeting as ITS (district staff). Polster said the northernmost section of the I‑35 North work (a section he described as “gray”) was let for construction last month and that the contractor will begin mobilization and work early next year. “That big hole in the ground that you see as you come around coming north — that’s for that braided ramp,” Polster said, describing the ongoing merge construction and the new frontage‑road/bridge elements that will separate movements for I‑35 and frontage‑road traffic.

Why the state started construction in the northern (gray) section before southern sections, Polster said, stems from earlier project packaging and bidding outcomes. He said a southern segment had been bundled at one time as a single large contract “about 650,000,000” and that, after bids came in roughly $100,000,000 over estimate with only two bidders, TxDOT asked they break the work into smaller packages. Smaller packages, he said, are expected to attract more bidders and produce more competitive prices: “What it does is it puts them under 200,000,000 each, and so we expect to get more bidders.”

Polster outlined several cost and schedule figures cited in the discussion. He said a currently funded portion of one northern project is about $213,000,000 while the full build of that same roadway is approximately $450,000,000; he described an additional roughly $240,000,000 of work in the northern portion that is not yet funded. Polster said the Dallas District historically had about $400,000,000 per year for right‑of‑way but that recent statewide budgeting and reallocation left the district with a smaller biennial allocation (Polster described the current biennial allocation verbally during the meeting; the transcript is not explicit about the final rounded figure).

Polster said some work can advance once ROW is acquired and utilities are relocated. He described a proposal the district and city are developing to donate ROW funds tied to specific CSJ (control‑section job) numbers so the state’s ROW finance division will apply donated funds directly to a project rather than pooling them into an undifferentiated pot. “If we’re gonna contribute, they don’t really necessarily need construction dollars. So we’re gonna try to provide right‑of‑way funding,” he said.

Project framings and near‑term dates published in the update included:
- The “merge” section was let in August and will begin contractor mobilization early next year; Polster said that overall construction will continue for several years.
- The Mayhill interchange was let in June and has a construction start date around Thanksgiving of the year reported.
- The 288/380 connector has completed environmental work and is moving into PS&E (plans, specifications and estimates). Polster said the PS&E for the full connector totals about $48,000,000 and that the county and city will prioritize the connector between 380 and 288 as the most critical portion.
- For one project scheduled to be “ready to let” in March 2027, Polster said the city or county will still need to identify roughly $70,000,000 in construction funding once utilities and ROW are cleared.

Polster also reported schedule and public‑engagement milestones for an outer loop/environmental review process. He said an official notice of intent (NOI) to federal reviewers was required and that the city expects additional public meetings and a formal public hearing next summer; a record of decision (ROD) from the federal review process typically follows a 60‑day window after the public hearing, he said.

Committee members raised safety and near‑term mitigation questions during the update. One member asked whether the city can pursue interim measures to improve safety at the Bonnie Brae/77 intersection while the larger project proceeds; Seth Garcia, the city’s director of capital projects, told the committee that the intersection improvements are part of the city’s Bonnie Brae 6 scope and that plans for a median cut and new signal are under construction and expected to yield substantial work by next summer. Polster said speed limits on state highways are set following a speed‑study process based on the 85th percentile and that the city can request a speed study and make engineering arguments to seek a lower posted limit.

Polster and staff also discussed coordination with local partners, including the county and Hillwood (a developer partner named during the briefing), and said negotiations will continue with the district commissioner and the finance division to preserve funding for the city’s priority sections.

Why this matters: these are multi‑hundred‑million‑dollar corridor projects that will reshape travel and development patterns in northern Denton County. City staff and TxDOT described both near‑term mitigation steps (traffic signals, median modifications) and longer‑term constraints (ROW acquisition moratoria, utility relocation, and biennial budgeting) that will determine when constructed improvements open to traffic.

Polster closed by asking the committee for patience as the district works through ROW and finance processes; the committee moved on to other agenda items after Q&A with staff.