Drivers should never expect traffic to take a day off along the West Loop 610, but that will be especially true as construction workers close the freeway in both directions this weekend, making trips to the Galleria and Uptown more grueling than usual.

As part of rebuilding the loop’s interchange with Interstate 69, the main lanes in both direction of Loop 610 will be closed at I-69, starting at 9 p.m. Friday. The lanes will not reopen until around 5 a.m. Monday, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.

The Friday-night-to-Monday-morning closing will be repeated Feb. 14 to 17 and Feb. 21 to 24, weather permitting.

TxDOT officials urged drivers to find alternate routes or avoid the area.

“What we’re telling people is know before you go and expect to spend extra time,” said Danny Perez, a spokesman for TxDOT in Houston.

Highway and Uptown officials are trying to balance their efforts to warn drivers without panicking them.

“We are open for business, we don’t want to scare anyone away,” said Delia Mizwa, director of marketing for the Uptown Houston Management District. “That is a major interchange but we are still accessible, all the exits are open. You can absolutely still get here.”

None of the weekend closings affect I-69, which will remain open in both directions.

The closings are necessary so workers can hang beams for the new main lanes and connector ramps between the two freeways — both among the busiest in the state. Loop 610 from the I-69 interchange is the most congested segment in the state. I-69 inside Loop 610 to Interstate 45 is the third-most.

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Williams Brothers Construction, the contractor on the $259 million interchange rebuild, is entering a phase where connector ramps and bridges will lead to complex and vehicle-choking closings.

“There are just some things that require us to close the entire freeway,” Perez said.

During the weekend closings, northbound Loop 610 traffic can exit at Westpark and travel along the northbound frontage road to re-enter the loop north of Richmond.

Southbound traffic will detour from Loop 610 to southbound I-69, exit at Chimney Rock, make a U-turn and use northbound I-69 to reconnect with southbound Loop 610.

Mizwa said Uptown officials — who have been juggling their own construction pains as they rebuild Post Oak to add center bus lanes — understand the freeway work is going to lead to some hiccups.

“It is like remodeling the kitchen, you just have to get it done,” she said.

Eventually, workers will need to close I-69 for some parts of the work, though those closings are expected to occur on nights and weekends when traffic is reduced. Perez said some long-term closures of key ramps between the freeways also are likely, with lengthy detours, though final plans and timing are not certain.

The interchange work is meant to address some of the clogged conditions by untying some of the weaving between Westheimer and Bellaire as traffic moves to and from the frontage road and the freeway. In addition to rebuilding ramps between the freeways to make them all two lanes, the work re-configures some entrance and exit ramp locations so traffic merging from the freeway is not fighting against drivers trying to exit.

Relief, however, will come after many more months of closings and detours. Completion of the interchange rebuild is expected in 2023, six years after the project began.

dug.begley@chron.com