Commuters along U.S. 290 headed northeast on Loop 610 have already been thrown for a loop by years of construction. In the home stretch of the work, they’re going to endure a very painful week starting Thursday.

The connection from eastbound U.S. 290 to Loop 610 eastbound toward the Heights will close at 9 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. It will reopen Nov. 16 at 5 a.m.

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During the interim week, three options are available for people to detour around the closing, said Karen Othon, spokeswoman for the U.S. 290 project. The official detour is for drivers to take Loop 610 south toward The Galleria and exit at Memorial/Woodway.

“That way they can get off, U-turn and get back on,” Othon said.

The detour sends traffic into the busiest freeway segment in the state.

The other options would be to access Interstate 10 and circle back to Loop 610, or exit U.S. 290 at Dacoma and then take Mangum to 18th Street.

Regardless of the route, officials expect the closing and detours to seriously complicate commutes and travel at the intersection.

“The first thing we talked about is how painful this is going to be,” Othon said of discussions about the upcoming work.

She said the decision to close the connection now was made to avoid to upcoming holiday periods. If workers get a few days of very favorable weather, the connection could reopen sooner than planned, she said.

When the connection reopens, it will be in its final configuration, which could also confuse some drivers for the first few days. In the original intersection, eastbound U.S. 290 flowed left to go south on Loop 610 and right to go north. During reconstruction of the interchange, the ramps swapped sides.

Next week, they’ll swap back, with eastbound traffic going left to travel south and right to travel north.

“It’ll be getting drivers used to the way it was before,” Othon said.

Eventually, three eastbound lanes of U.S. 290 will go south on Loop 610 and two lanes will go north.

The intersection is one part of a larger project to widen U.S. 290 to Waller, which started in 2011. Broken into 13 distinct jobs, with a combined construction cost of $1.8 billion, it is the largest and longest project in the Houston area. It’s also been a huge slog for commuters who suffer through narrow lanes, abrupt entrance and exit ramps and ever-changing conditions.

Though work is months behind initial schedules for a variety of reasons ranging from weather to delayed utility relocations and contractors walking off the job, officials said it is on track to finish in late 2018.

“There is light at the end of the tunnel,” Othon said, saying a lot of noticeable work has happened in the past few months. “It is there, you can see it.”