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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – With millions of people taking to the streets across the country for Thanksgiving, TxDOT is taking the strain off traffic by opening lanes on major roads with ongoing construction projects. These include the SPID ramp reversal and the I-37 Nueces River bridge projects.
“We’re doing this for two reasons: one is security and the other is mobility,” said Rickey Dailey, TxDOT’s public information officer. “There are people from outside the area who are in the area, so we want to keep the roads safe. You may not know what is going on in the work areas, sometimes they have reduced lanes, so we open all the main lanes. “
When traveling for Thanksgiving, many plan their trips to avoid the traffic by either getting out of town or arriving at their destination early, like Laura Jarmon visiting her family from Austin.
“The road from Austin to San Antonio was terrible, it took three hours, and then yesterday was perfect, three hours from San Antonio to Corpus, we left around noon and got here at three. Well, not that bad, ”said Jarmon. “We were lucky. I don’t know whether everyone came early or left late, or I don’t know, but we were pleasantly surprised. “
Nina Garcia is originally from Corpus Christi but now lives in Sugarland.
“We came down on Tuesday to avoid the traffic,” said Garcia. “There was no traffic, it was great.”
Garcia planned her trip to avoid the in and out traffic.
“We could go to a few stores early Friday and then we’ll probably go back to Sugarland on Friday night to avoid the traffic,” she said.
Jarmon and her family will also be leaving town early to avoid the traffic.
“I think we always go back Saturday for Thanksgiving because Sunday is usually a disaster,” she said.
Dailey said opening the main roads will help out-of-town drivers who are unfamiliar with the area and ongoing projects, but will also help local drivers with more cars on the road.
“It provides additional security for drivers traveling through unfamiliar areas, as well as for mobility; to reduce traffic jams and keep traffic moving, ”said Dailey. “Work zones can be congested, you can slow down. That simply makes the roads safer at this time of heavy traffic. “
The lane openings will continue through Sunday and will be restored for all major holidays when more traffic is expected, such as Christmas.
As construction resumes and more people leave for Christmas shopping, there are a few tips to help avoid traffic jams on local roads.
“Take back streets, McArdle to the malls when you need to go to the malls,” Garcia said. “Avoid SPID, period,” she laughed.
“For people who are going to be traveling around, just stay away from the construction sites. There are always alternative routes you can take, ”said Jacob Martinez, a Corpus Christi resident and native of Portland.
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