If you're heading from Midtown toward Emancipation Park, the El Dorado Ballroom or anywhere else in Third Ward this week, which street gets you over the freeway? Since April 30 the answer hasn't been Alabama Street. TxDOT's construction plan says it won't be Tuam or McGowen for a while, either.
Two closures on Midtown's eastern edge end this month. A third runs until February 8, 2027. TxDOT's work plan for the I-69 segment along Midtown puts the Alabama bridge in the same phase as taking down the Tuam and McGowen bridges, and Elgin gets rebuilt after those two reopen. The closures overlap now, and the plan has more of them coming over the next several years. For years, the route east from Midtown will depend on which bridge is open at the time.
October's Two Reopenings Are Both on Hamilton
The closures ending this month are on Hamilton Street, the southbound frontage road on the Midtown side of I-69. Both are for storm sewer work.
Hamilton between Tuam and Elgin is scheduled to stay closed through 3 p.m. on Friday, October 9, with detours via Chenevert or Hutchins. When we checked Houston TranStar's live closure list on October 4, that segment wasn't on it, so the barricades may already be down.
The longer closure takes southbound Hamilton from St. Joseph Parkway to Gray Street. TranStar shows it "closed continuously until 3:00 PM, Tuesday, October 13." Its detours reach well into Midtown's street grid:
- Southbound Hamilton traffic goes right on Pease, left on Jackson, left on McGowen, then back to Hamilton.
- Westbound St. Joseph Parkway traffic goes left on St. Emanuel, right on Gray, right on Chenevert, then back to St. Joseph.
- Eastbound Pierce traffic goes right on Jackson, left on McGowen, left on St. Emanuel, then back to Pierce.
TxDOT's posted start dates for this closure don't agree. The detour map says May 4 and the construction updates page says May 18. Both list October 13 as the end date. By the middle of the month, Jackson, Pease and Chenevert should no longer be carrying the diverted traffic.
Alabama Stays Closed Through the Winter
The Alabama Street bridge is the long one. TxDOT closed Alabama in both directions between Chenevert and St. Emanuel at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 30, 2026, and the closure runs through 5 a.m. on Monday, February 8, 2027. TxDOT's notice says the closure is there "to allow crews to reconstruct Alabama Street, including demolishing the existing bridge over I-69 and rebuilding it."
That makes the closure a little over nine months long, and it's now past the halfway point. The old bridge is already gone. KPRC reported on May 3 that TxDOT had finished demolishing the part over northbound I-69 and reopened those lanes. A second phase that weekend closed southbound I-69 and the SH 288 connector. The closure itself started later than first planned. The Houston Chronicle reported that TxDOT pushed back the original start date to reconsider the closure and reduce the effects on nearby neighborhoods.
The posted detour for drivers is a loop to the south:
- Westbound Alabama traffic turns left onto Emancipation Avenue.
- It heads south on Emancipation and turns right onto Cleburne Street.
- It goes west on Cleburne and turns right onto Almeda Road.
- It goes north on Almeda back to Alabama.
Eastbound traffic runs the same loop the other way. KHOU's published pedestrian detour uses Hutchins, Wheeler, Chartres, Cleburne and Almeda, which adds noticeable distance for anyone walking across.
Cleburne is part of this route because TxDOT already took it apart once. From January 20 to June 1, 2025, Cleburne was fully closed between Chartres and Hutchins while crews put a new storm sewer under it near the I-69 and SH 288 interchange. That 2025 street work is part of why Cleburne can carry today's Alabama detour.
The Same Phase Lists Tuam and McGowen
This is the part the detour signs leave out. Segment 3B-2 covers I-69 from SH 288 to I-45. The contractor is Williams Brothers Construction Company, the cost is $695.5 million, construction began in January 2025 and completion is expected in 2033. TxDOT divides that work into five phases.
Phase Two, the current phase, has three items: reconstruct Alabama Street over SH 288 and I-69, begin Hamilton Street construction, and "remove existing Tuam and McGowen Street bridges over I-69." This fall's closures on Alabama and Hamilton are the first two items. The third is still ahead.
The rebuilt bridges don't come until Phase Five, which runs alongside the freeway mainlane work. The plan says "Tuam and McGowen will be reconstructed first followed by Elgin after Tuam and McGowen are opened." Between Phase Two and Phase Five, crews still have to rebuild the SH 288 to I-69 connector, dig a new detention pond and rebuild the I-69 and SH 288 mainlanes themselves.
TxDOT hasn't published dates for closing or removing the Tuam or McGowen bridges. Its April 2026 public meeting materials label the work plan "preliminary and subject to change." The order is set in writing, but the calendar isn't. Some of the groundwork at McGowen is already finished. The same materials list the 8-foot-diameter storm sewer pipes at I-69 and McGowen Street as completed construction as of May 2026. Those pipes will carry water from the I-69 and SH 288 mainlanes into the new Segment 3B-1 drainage system.
What Replaces Them
The finished bridges will look different from what's there now. TxDOT plans three "signature arch bridges" for Elgin, Tuam and McGowen. They're designed to echo the series of six I-69 bridges between Hazard Street and Montrose Boulevard, and each will have dedicated space for pedestrians and cyclists.
TxDOT's April exhibit names the places the bridges are meant to connect. It says Midtown residents "can more easily get to Emancipation Park or the El Dorado Ballroom," and Third Ward residents can more easily reach Baldwin Park or the Houston City College Main Campus. The Chronicle described the Alabama bridge as linking Midtown to Greater Fifth Ward. TxDOT's own materials describe these crossings as the Midtown and Third Ward connection.
On a map, the Midtown ends of these bridges are already being worked on. Midtown's streetscape program has finished refreshing Elgin Street from Brazos to Hamilton and McGowen Street from Smith to Hamilton. That work repaired tree grates and pavers and replaced planting, irrigation, benches and trash cans. Both refreshed stretches end at Hamilton, which is where the freeway crossings start.
Inside Midtown, the Work Shifts Off the Freeway
West of Hamilton, two city and district projects are next to watch.
The Houston Public Works water line replacement covers the Midtown area bounded by McGowen, Winbern, Albany and Main. The latest update, posted August 24, 2026, said "roadway and utility work continues" there and that the project "remains on schedule for completion by Fall 2026." No newer update has been posted. Fall 2026 is still the target, but there's no confirmed finish date.
The Midtown Redevelopment Authority's roadway and sidewalk program has picked seven corridors:
- Isabella Street, Main to Fannin and San Jacinto to Almeda
- Truxillo Street, Main to just west of IH-69
- Cleburne Street, Main to LaBranch
- Caroline Street, Wheeler to Hermann
- Chenevert Street, Pierce to Elgin
- Jackson Street, Pierce to McGowen
- Hadley Street, Smith to Austin
Funding comes from a $1.56 million Federal Transit Administration grant for Cleburne and Caroline, $1.14 million in HUD Community Project Funds for Truxillo and Isabella, $179,000 in Council District D service funds and MRA tax increment funds. The March 2026 project page forecast construction starting in Fall 2026, with phases continuing into 2027. We haven't found a public announcement of a start date or contractor. Chenevert and Jackson are two of the streets carrying Hamilton detour traffic right now, so they could see more work after the freeway detours move off them.
Midtown's Eastern Crossings in Early October 2026
- Hamilton, Tuam to Elgin: Scheduled to reopen by October 9. It wasn't on TranStar's live list on October 4.
- Hamilton southbound, St. Joseph Parkway to Gray: Closed until 3 p.m. on October 13.
- Alabama, Chenevert to St. Emanuel: Closed until 5 a.m. on February 8, 2027. Detour via Emancipation, Cleburne and Almeda.
- Tuam and McGowen bridges: Open for now. They're listed for removal in Phase Two, with no published date.
- Elgin bridge: To be rebuilt after the new Tuam and McGowen bridges open.
TxDOT's construction updates page and TranStar's NHHIP closure map are the two places these dates change first.
If you're planning a sale, purchase or lease near Hamilton, Chenevert or the Alabama corridor, the timing of the next bridge closure matters. Jay Bradley and the team at Prestige Realty Group track these Midtown projects. Get an Instant Home Valuation or Schedule a Market Consultation, and we'll go through what TxDOT's schedule could mean for your block.
