TxDOT to hold Ribbon Cutting for Marsha Sharp Freeway

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for a sizable Lubbock transportation project will be held next week.

TxDOT will open the Phase 4 main lanes of the Marsha Sharp Freeway, marking the completion of the road allowing West Texans to drive across Lubbock non-stop from West Loop 289 to I-27.

According to a press release from TxDOT, many anticipated that the project would take 20 years, but it has been completed in half the time.

“Originally, TxDOT anticipated the Marsha Sharp Freeway projects to be funded with only traditional financing – taking 18 to 20 years to get us to the completion of phase 4,” said Douglas Eichorst, TxDOT engineer. “But additional state funds (Proposition 14) that became available and our partnership with the Lubbock Metropolitan Planning Organization and the City of Lubbock got us to where we are today.”

TxDOT and the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce will host the ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, July 24^th on the westbound MSF main lanes near 4^th Street and Texas Avenue.

Construction on the freeway began in May 2003, and TxDOT completed five major projects at a construction cost of $316.5 million.