Mobility committee hears extended update on I‑35 North projects, delays and multi‑year construction impacts

The Mobility Committee of the City of Denton on Jan. 29 received a detailed update on I‑35 North corridor work from John Polster of Innovative Transportation Solutions, who said Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is splitting a large contract into multiple bids and that construction across the corridor will last several years.

Polster told the committee that the project labeled “074” (referred to in the briefing as 0 7 4) — a roughly $495,000,000 package — will be broken into three separate plan sets because its total dollar amount exceeds TxDOT's preferred bid size. He said the split moved the project’s ready‑to‑let date from September to Jan. 26, a roughly four‑month shift. "When they get to projects that have these higher dollar amounts, they get fewer bidders," Polster said, adding that breaking large jobs into smaller contracts typically increases competition and yields better prices.

Why it matters: the committee was told that the restructuring will delay some letting dates but should not pause critical utility relocations. Polster said utility coordination is continuing from south to north and "those utilities are still being moved during that same time. We're not just waiting for the plans." Committee members pressed whether the plan‑breakout would slow other projects;…