I-35 Rittiman Closures Hit San Antonio This Weekend

Texas Department of Transportation crews plan a stacked set of I-35 closures on San Antonio’s Northeast Side this weekend, including a daytime frontage-road shutdown near Rittiman Road and an overnight mainlane closure at the I-410 South interchange. Fly-drive travelers using SAT, Brooke Army Medical Center approaches, or the north-south frontage roads should rebuild timing before Saturday morning.

The guiding question is which piece of the corridor closes when. TxDOT’s weekend package separates a Saturday daytime frontage detour, a Saturday night interchange frontage hold, and a Sunday evening both-directions mainlane closure that runs into early Monday.

What TxDOT Scheduled for Saturday

According to a TxDOT briefing summarized by News 4 San Antonio, the northbound I-35 frontage road north of Rittiman Road, including northbound Exit 164B, is scheduled to close from 10 a.m. to midnight on Saturday, August 22, 2026, weather permitting. Drivers who need to continue beyond Rittiman on the northbound frontage road are detoured right onto Rittiman Road, then left onto Fratt Road.

Neighborhood connectors matter here. Drivers on Center Park Boulevard, Dinn Drive, and Remount Drive who are trying to reach northbound I-35 are told to use Fratt Road, then Eisenhauer Road, to regain the northbound frontage road. Mainlane drivers who planned to take Exit 164B for Eisenhauer Road should continue to Exit 165, enter the northbound frontage road, U-turn at Walzem Road onto the southbound frontage road, and then turn onto Eisenhauer.

FOX San Antonio carried the same TxDOT weekend windows, confirming the Saturday daytime Rittiman package and the later interchange holds. That cross-check matters because the daytime window hits shopping, airport returns, and hotel check-in traffic, not only overnight freight.

What Closes Saturday Night and Sunday Night

TxDOT also scheduled the northbound I-35 frontage road at the I-35 and I-410 South interchange to close from 9 p.m. Saturday, August 22, to 8 a.m. Sunday, August 23. During that hold, northbound frontage drivers at the interchange keep right toward I-410 South, enter the southbound I-410 South frontage road, and use the signalized turnaround at Binz Engleman Road to return north.

The heaviest overnight piece lands Sunday evening. Both the northbound and southbound I-35 mainlanes at the I-410 South interchange are scheduled to close from 6 p.m. Sunday, August 23, until 5 a.m. Monday, August 24, weather permitting. Northbound traffic exits at Exit 163 onto the northbound frontage road and re-enters after Dinn Drive. Southbound traffic exits at Exit 162 onto the southbound frontage road and may re-enter after George Beach Avenue. Drivers heading for southbound I-410 South should use the connector ramp south of Rittiman Road.

Those Sunday night mainlane closures are the ones most likely to stretch airport-to-hotel drives and late returns from the River Walk or northeast lodging. Build an extra buffer if your SAT arrival or Sunday evening dinner plan depends on I-35 through the I-410 South interchange.

Rental-car returns to the airport before a Monday early flight deserve the same caution. A 5 a.m. Monday reopen still leaves little margin if crews stay later or if frontage roads remain congested after the mainlanes reopen.

How This Fits the Broader Northeast Expansion Work

The weekend package sits inside TxDOT’s ongoing I-35 Northeast Expansion Program, which has already produced midweek overnight frontage and ramp closures near Walzem Road and Rittiman Road. An earlier News 4 summary of the week of August 17 listed nightly Walzem and Rittiman frontage holds running into Friday night, which is why Saturday’s longer daytime window feels like a step-up rather than a one-off surprise.

Travelers comparing San Antonio sightseeing days can still use Deep Arrival’s San Antonio things-to-do guide for River Walk, missions, and neighborhood timing. Just treat northeast I-35 as a moving construction corridor this weekend instead of a reliable express link between the airport edge and downtown.

Families headed to water-park days should also leave more margin around Aquatica San Antonio arrivals if the drive uses I-35 or I-410 South connectors. The park itself is not closing; the highway approaches are.

What Travelers Should Do Before Leaving the Hotel

Open your map app after you load bags, not only the night before. A Saturday midday Rittiman frontage closure can push northbound local traffic onto Fratt and Eisenhauer, while a Sunday evening mainlane closure pushes through traffic onto the frontage roads around Exits 162 and 163.

If you are collecting a rental car at San Antonio International Airport and driving north or east, ask whether your property’s preferred route still uses Exit 164B or the I-410 South interchange during the posted windows. Hotel shuttles and ride-hail drivers may already know the temporary Exit 162 pattern for Brooke Army Medical Center and Binz Engleman Road access.

TxDOT says the work is weather permitting. Heat, storms, or unfinished overnight tasks can shorten or scrub a window, so treat the published hours as the planning baseline and the roadside message boards as the live authority.

If your group is split across downtown and northeast hotels, agree on one meeting point that does not require weaving through Rittiman or the I-410 South interchange during the active windows.

For a San Antonio weekend already packed with heat and school-year traffic, the useful move is narrow: know which of the three TxDOT windows hits your exact segment, then pick the matching detour before you leave the curb.