For drivers shuttling between Fort Worth and Denton, the southern stretch of I-35W has turned into a slow-motion slog. A run of crashes and a roughly seven-mile gap in frontage roads can turn what should be a routine commute into an hours-long standstill, and locals say what used to be an occasional hassle now feels like a daily crisis.
TxDOT Timeline And Price Tag
In TxDOT’s Dallas-district design list, published in early 2026, the agency outlines multiple I-35W projects with a combined estimated cost of about $481 million, along with a planned frontage road letting for the FM-407 to FM-2449 segment in September 2028, according to TxDOT. Crash data tell the rest of the story: an average of nine collisions per month from January 2024 through June 2026, including 12 crashes in May alone, have triggered extended closures and near-gridlock, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Local Officials Say They’ve Done Their Part
Northlake Mayor Brian Montini has been publicly pressing for help and says he has watched residents lose patience with the delay-heavy process of getting state projects across the finish line, describing it as “like moving a glacier,” per local reporting. He also points out that the town has already sunk serious money into infrastructure, including roughly $15 million for sewer and $20 million for water, while Denton County Commissioner Dianna Edmondson notes that about 90 people move into the county every day, leaving cities to scramble for short-term workarounds while they wait for the state projects to land, as reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Developments Are Piling On The Pressure
The pressure on I-35W is not theoretical. Denton and neighboring communities are moving ahead with large master-planned developments in the corridor. City of Denton materials highlight Hillwood’s 3,200-acre Landmark project alongside other major buildouts, and the Denton 2040 plan projects the city’s population climbing toward about 229,192 residents by 2040, growth that is expected to add thousands more daily trips onto the interstate, according to city planning documents.
What Drivers Can Expect Next
TxDOT’s design tables list some nearer-term work, including a separate FM-407 widening with a September 2027 letting that is intended to ease the strain at the FM-407 interchange. The bigger-ticket corridor reconstructions and new frontage roads, however, still depend on funding decisions and permitting timetables. Fort Worth’s newly adopted Master Transportation Plan also elevates the I-35W and TX-114 interchange as a regional priority, but turning that from a line in a planning document into crews in the field will take time, according to the Fort Worth Master Transportation Plan.
For now, drivers are left to trade frustration for patience while local officials court state partners and chase federal grants in hopes of speeding up delivery. On this stretch of I-35W, though, the fixes still appear to be measured in years rather than months.
