By Josh Siatkowski | Staff Writer
As frontage road construction continues next to the popular Valley Mills H-E-B, students’ visions of a traffic-free trip to the store might not materialize before graduation.
“Frontage road construction will remain ongoing through the entirety of the project timeline, which is scheduled to continue until mid-2029,” said Jake Smith, public information officer for the Waco branch of TxDOT.
Smith said the construction near H-E-B is for underground utilities and infrastructure work.
“Once construction is complete, the frontage road will remain two lanes in each direction with a wider outside lane for improved bicycle access and new sidewalks,” Smith said.
Over a year into the My35 Waco South Project and 10 years into the larger three-stage endeavor to upgrade the highway surrounding the city, Baylor students and other Wacoans are more than used to freeway backups. For over a decade, most of I-35 north and south of Waco has been under construction, adding more lanes, repaved surfaces and more traffic to local commutes.
But it’s more than just the highway that’s being revamped. Frontage roads, bridges and sidewalks are all being worked on in the three-mile stretch just south of Baylor — and students are feeling the effects of it on their grocery trips.
Between Valley Mills Drive and Irving Lee Street — home to the campus’s closest H-E-B — the southbound I-35 frontage road has been cut down to one lane since mid-2025. Its completion, alongside other parts of the project, like a new intersection at Valley Mills, will improve the driving experience in the area. But for now, traffic has swelled on the street where students make their final right turn into the H-E-B parking lot.
In the meantime, students are dealing with added backups when they head south to the store. Colleyville junior Matthew Page, who lives just south of Baylor’s campus, said the construction has added a few minutes to what’s usually a five-minute trip to H-E-B.
“I can’t even think back to when they first appeared because they’ve been there so long,” Page said, referring to the traffic cones that have kept the right lane off-limits.
Some drivers have bypassed the backup and used the dirt path carved by construction vehicles to cut into the store’s parking lot. Page, however, said he’ll continue to go with the flow, especially now that the traffic light at Valley Mills is back in commission.
“It’s been kind of bad, but I don’t think it’s necessarily gotten worse,” Page said. “I think the light that was there, they started using again.”
While the frontage road construction will continue through the larger project’s 2029 completion date, Smith said updates will continue to be provided throughout the timeline. There is no cost breakdown for the specific construction between Valley Mills and Irving Lee, but the total My35 Waco South project is expected to cost $250 million.
“Drivers can expect intermittent lane and driveway closures as work continues,” Smith said via email. “You can learn more about lane closures and other traffic impacts by following us on X and Facebook @TxDOTWaco.”
