Loop 360's Construction Zone Is Moving North Across Pennybacker Bridge

Since the last Sunday in August, drivers heading north on Loop 360 have been able to pass Westlake Drive and Cedar Street without stopping at a red light. A few miles farther north, across the river, crews are cutting into limestone cliffs at Courtyard Drive for a project TxDOT expects to run until late 2029. The south end of the corridor is close to finished, and the north end has barely started.

The corridor's construction zone is moving north. The work that has slowed Westlake Drive and Cedar Street since 2022 is ending, and the next three years of disruption shift to the Courtyard Drive and RM 2222 side of Pennybacker Bridge. The bridge sits between the two projects and isn't changing at all.

How the south end drives now

KXAN reported on Aug. 28, 2026 that TxDOT would open single mainlanes in each direction that Sunday morning, so drivers could bypass the signals at Westlake Drive and Cedar Street. The TxDOT project page for Westlake Drive/Cedar Street now confirms that setup. Loop 360 has one lane open in each direction. Through drivers stay in the left lane to skip both signals, and drivers headed to Westlake Drive or Cedar Street exit right.

Turnarounds work differently too. Non-signalized U-turns on the Westlake Drive bridge give access to both northbound and southbound Loop 360. That bridge isn't new. Community Impact reported its opening in August 2025, a full year before the mainlanes beneath it carried through traffic. According to KXAN, the southbound U-turn south of Bold Ruler Way also stays open.

The project's purpose is that through traffic no longer stops for the people turning. Westlake Drive and Cedar Street now work as exits off a free-flowing road. They used to be intersections that controlled the road.

What is still unfinished at Westlake and Cedar

The south end still has work left. TxDOT lists construction on the Loop 360 mainlanes between Bold Ruler Way and Pennybacker Bridge continuing "through late-2026." Excavation runs on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and hauling happens at night. Community Impact's Oct. 30 transportation roundup lists the project at $72.1 million on a 2022 to 2026 timeline, funded by TxDOT and the City of Austin's 2016 mobility bond.

Most of that remaining work happens overnight. TxDOT's schedule for the first week of November shows the pattern, with every listed closure running from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.:

• Alternating single-lane closures on the northbound and southbound connector roads between Pennybacker Bridge and Bold Ruler Way, Sunday through Thursday
• Bold Ruler Way and Waymaker Way access from northbound Loop 360, on Sunday
• The northbound mainlane between Shell Refuel Gas and Pennybacker Bridge, plus East Westlake access, on Monday
• The boat ramp access road at Loop 360, on Tuesday
• Cedar Street access, on Wednesday
• West Westlake Drive access, on Thursday

These closures move around. A late drive home might find Cedar Street access closed one night and West Westlake access closed the next. The daytime pattern stays the same.

The bridge in the middle stays as it is

Pennybacker Bridge links the finished end of the corridor to the unfinished one, and none of the Loop 360 plans touch it. The Austin American-Statesman's May 18 guide to the overhaul reported that the bridge, which has crossed the Colorado River since 1982, will keep two lanes in each direction.

TxDOT expects that to be enough. In the same Statesman article, TxDOT spokesperson Katherine Lee Seth said traffic studies show most Loop 360 traffic is through traffic, so removing the stoplights and moving turning cars out of the main lanes should keep traffic flowing. The whole program depends on that reasoning. The road gets faster by taking out the places where it stops, and the bridge itself stays the same width.

North of the river, the work is just starting

TxDOT's Courtyard Drive/RM 2222 project began construction in April 2026 and is expected to be complete in late 2029. The plan uses the same approach as Westlake. It removes the traffic signal from the Loop 360 mainlanes at Courtyard Drive, builds an underpass there, rebuilds RM 2222 at Loop 360 as a diverging diamond interchange, and adds shared-use paths and sidewalks. The contractor is Webber. Community Impact puts the cost at $68.4 million. The Statesman reported that the City of Austin is contributing $14 million toward this project and toward future work at Lakewood Drive and Spicewood Springs Road.

TxDOT has set out the work in four phases. Each phase depends on the one before it, so the order tells drivers roughly what to expect and when:

1. Set up the work zone, build waterlines and excavate the cliffs.
2. Build new northbound and southbound connector roads, drainage, braided ramps and the Courtyard Drive bridge, and start the shared-use paths.
3. Build the RM 2222 diverging diamond and finish the shared-use paths.
4. Do the final paving and striping, then open the permanent traffic patterns.

Phase 2 will have the biggest effect on daily trips. The Statesman reported that during this phase, drivers will lose the ability to cross Loop 360 at Courtyard Drive and will be rerouted along Loop 360. Work will start on the east side, next to the northbound lanes, and move west. The Courtyard bridge will be finished before work on the RM 2222 interchange begins. For anyone whose usual route crosses 360 at Courtyard, that detour is the part of the north-end work they'll notice most.

TxDOT has already posted two changes at RM 2222. The eastbound RM 2222 entrance ramp to southbound Loop 360 will close, and drivers will instead turn right at the RM 2222 signal to reach southbound 360. The northbound Loop 360 exit ramp to RM 2222 will be restriped into a left-turn-only lane, a left-turn-or-straight lane and a right-turn-only lane. TxDOT's page currently shows no lane closures for the project. Construction runs on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and, as needed, on Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. TxDOT warns that neighbors and businesses may notice more noise, vibration and dust during excavation and night work.

The overlook and the boat ramp

The north-end work also reaches the corridor's best-known recreation spots. The Pennybacker Bridge overlook hike and the Lake Austin boat ramp under the bridge are both inside the work area. In its May guide, the Statesman reported TxDOT's plan for the trailhead as crews set up the work zone:

"Once those barriers are in place, cars will no longer have access to park at the trailhead. The boat ramp near the bridge will remain open."

The boat ramp has felt the south-end work as well. TxDOT scheduled an overnight closure of the boat ramp access road at Loop 360 for Nov. 3, from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. That listing covered the access road, not the ramp. Before driving over for an overlook hike or an early launch, check the TxDOT pages for both projects. The trailhead's parking plan and the ramp's access road are tied to two different construction schedules.

The rest of the corridor waits its turn

Once Westlake/Cedar wraps up, Courtyard/RM 2222 will be the only Loop 360 project under construction. Community Impact's Oct. 12 update described the program as two ongoing projects and three planned ones. None of the planned projects has a start date:

• MoPac to RM 2244 covers the Walsh Tarlton overpass and a proposed grade separation at Lost Creek Boulevard and Westbank Drive. It is still in planning, construction depends on funding, and no timeline is listed.
• Lakewood Drive/Spicewood Springs Road is planned, and TxDOT says construction could begin as early as 2029, depending on funding.
• RM 2244 is still being evaluated for intersection improvements and a possible diverging diamond interchange. TxDOT says it will move forward when more funding becomes available.

If Lakewood/Spicewood Springs starts in 2029, the same year Courtyard/RM 2222 is due to finish, the construction zone will move north again with almost no break. For drivers in Westlake, Rollingwood and the neighborhoods off Bee Cave Road, the south end is nearly done. For drivers who come down from Davenport Ranch, Courtyard and the RM 2222 corridor, the slow stretch of their commute is just beginning.

TxDOT points drivers to three real-time sources, according to the Statesman: a weekly email newsletter at loop360project.com, updates on X at @Loop360project, and statewide lane-closure information at drivetexas.org. For more on how the Bee Cave Road side of west Austin has changed this year, see our post on what opened along that corridor in 2026.

At Sarah McAloon, we keep track of these timelines because they shape how west Austin works day to day, from the morning drive over Pennybacker Bridge to the Saturday trip to the boat ramp. If you'd like a local read on how the Loop 360 work affects your part of the corridor, Schedule Your Personal Consultation and we'll go through it with you.