The Pharr Interchange project is getting closer to completion as the Texas Department of Transpiration announced the McAllen to Edinburg connector is opening later this month.

An exact date for the transition will be announced next week, TxDOT stated in a Wednesday news release.

To access the new connector — which merges eastbound I-2 traffic onto northbound I-69C — drivers will take the Sugar Road exit in Pharr, stay left, and then merge onto a temporary access ramp located between Sugar Road and Cage Boulevard. 

The temporary access ramp is exclusively for northbound traffic and will not provide access to eastbound I-2, according to the release.

After the opening of the McAllen to Edinburg connector, the Harlingen to Edinburg connector will close for demolition and reconstruction that should take six months, TxDOT added.

While that connector closes, drivers on westbound I-2 in San Juan will take the Cage Boulevard (Business 281) exit and use a dedicated right turn lane at Cage Boulevard to head north on the I-69C frontage road.

An expressway entrance ramp north of SH 495, or Ferguson Avenue, will provide access to northbound I-69C.

The interchange expansion project — which will expand Interstate 2 to eight lanes between 2nd Street in McAllen and Stewart Road in San Juan and have two lanes in each interchange connector — is expected to have “substantial completion” by the end of 2023, the release added.

The public is encouraged to sign up for traffic alerts online or call the project hotline at 956-803-3560 for more information.