Which I-10 Project Is Closing Your Exit Near Desert Springs, and When Each One Lets Up

"Until Further Notice." That's how TxDOT's October 1 closure notice lists the I-10 westbound exit ramp to Transmountain. The ramp has been closed around the clock since Monday, March 9, and a secondary temporary exit ramp is carrying the traffic in the meantime. In May, the same closure was listed with an end date, "End of Aug. 2026," and an estimated length of about five months. August has come and gone. The ramp is still closed, and the notice no longer gives a date.

City planning records place Desert Springs east of I-10 and north of Transmountain Road. That puts the neighborhood between two separate TxDOT rebuilds that are easy to lump together as "the I-10 construction." They are different projects, they run on different timelines, and they'll wind down at different times. The weekend closures north of the neighborhood are close to the end of their deck work. The work at Transmountain and Artcraft to the south is planned to run into 2030. Your fall plans depend on knowing which closure belongs to which project.

Two projects, side by side

The 2030 finish for the Artcraft project is still current. A June 2026 El Paso Times update said the project was on track to finish that year. The Phase 2 timeline has moved forward. A February 2025 report estimated three and a half years of work, and KVIA reported in April 2026 that the target is September 2027.

The northern closures have a number attached

The weekend closures come from Phase 2. TxDOT is rebuilding 14 bridges, seven in each direction, and every bridge deck needs a full weekend closure for its pour. As of September 30, KVIA reported that two weekends of deck placement were done and five more eastbound closures were scheduled. The pattern is to close the highway overnight Saturday and reopen it Monday morning. Each new deck then cures for about ten days under protective blankets while crews get the next bridge ready.

Two of those five closures are scheduled now. The first runs Saturday, October 3, through Monday, October 5, which is this weekend. The next runs Saturday, October 10, through Monday, October 12. Each one closes I-10 eastbound between Anthony and Transmountain from 3 a.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Monday, which adds up to 51 hours. The posted detour takes South Desert through the Anthony and Vinton intersections and puts you back on I-10 eastbound after Los Mochis.

That direction is the one to plan around. Eastbound I-10 is how you come home from Anthony, Vinton, or anywhere in New Mexico. Getting there on Saturday morning isn't the problem. Getting back on Sunday is.

The deck work isn't all of Phase 2, though. On April 25, eastbound drivers between Anthony and Vinton moved onto the new inside lanes. The switch closed Exit 1 for Anthony, Exit 2 for Vinton, and the Vinton eastbound on-ramp. Westbound lost Exit 0 in May. TxDOT said this setup would stay in place for a year once both directions had switched, so those ramps should come back around the spring of 2027. TxDOT's October 1 notice also lists alternate lane closures on I-10 and the Desert frontage roads between Anthony and Mesa from October 5 through October 8.

The southern project is still in the middle of its build

The Artcraft project has no single weekend count that will end it. It's building four direct connectors and a set of U-turn bridges at the I-10 and Artcraft interchange. According to TxDOT, the connectors will let drivers skip the signals and congestion on North Desert and South Desert. Between I-10 and Doniphan, the plans rebuild and extend the frontage roads, add bridges that carry Artcraft over Upper Valley Road and Westside Drive, and improve the shared-use path.

The U-turn bridges have the most visible progress so far. Girders for the turnarounds were set for the week of June 22, with deck panels the week of June 29. On Monday night, September 28, TxDOT closed I-10 in both directions between Transmountain and Artcraft from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. to place the southbound and northbound turnaround bridge decks. None of the sources we reviewed gives a date for when those bridges open to traffic. A finished deck still isn't an open bridge, so the turnarounds don't help your commute yet.

The ramp closure is part of the same build. TxDOT tied it to work on a "future connector ramp." That puts the westbound exit to Transmountain inside the project that runs to 2030. The ramp may reopen long before then, but no public source gives a date, and the only estimate anyone published has already passed.

The week ahead on the south side

TxDOT's October 1 notice lists the following daytime work for Monday, October 5, through Friday, October 9, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. as needed:

• Alternate lane closures on Artcraft, eastbound and westbound, between the New Mexico line and Doniphan, for lighting, ITS and retaining-wall work
• Alternate lane closures on North Desert between Helen of Troy and Cheddar's Restaurant
• Alternate lane closures on South Desert between Charlie Clark Nissan and Blue Sky
• Alternate lane closures on I-10 in both directions between Redd and Transmountain
• A full closure of the I-10 eastbound exit ramp at Redd

Since August 31, access to Paseo Del Norte Plaza from Artcraft has been closed for water-main work. It was listed as an eight-week closure, so if it stays on schedule it should reopen in late October. On Paseo del Norte itself, Amazon opened its delivery station at 7850 Paseo del Norte on June 10. In June, the El Paso Times photographed delivery vans lined up at the station's entrance signal, which it shares with the Walmart Supercenter entrance across the street.

The schedules also come out differently right now. KTSM reported that TxDOT's website is being upgraded and that closures are being posted to its social accounts: @txdotelp on X, @txdotelpaso on Instagram, and @txdotep on Facebook. All of these dates are planned schedules and can shift with weather or construction needs.

Planning a La Union Maze weekend around the closures

La Union Maze is at 1101 N.M. Highway 28 in Anthony. It's open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from September 26 through November 8, and this year's 13-acre design celebrates New Mexico agriculture. The Haunted Maze runs Friday and Saturday nights in October, and a fireworks and drone show on Saturday, November 7, comes the night before the season closes.

The maze is north of Desert Springs, so coming home means heading east on the stretch of I-10 that Phase 2 closes. Here's how to plan a trip:

1. Check TxDOT's social accounts before you go. The closures announced so far fall on October 3 to 5 and October 10 to 12, and KVIA's count suggests more eastbound weekends will follow.
2. On a closure weekend, a Friday Haunted Maze night avoids the closure completely, because it doesn't start until 3 a.m. Saturday.
3. If you go on Saturday or Sunday during a closure, plan to come home on the South Desert detour through Anthony and Vinton and get back on I-10 eastbound after Los Mochis.
4. For the November 7 show, check closure postings the week before. The sources we found don't list closures that far out.

When each one lets up

Phase 2's weekend deck closures are going one bridge at a time, and the weekend after October 10 to 12 brings that count down again. The ramps that closed in the April lane switch should return around spring 2027, and the project is scheduled to finish in September 2027. In the south, the Transmountain exit ramp's August estimate has passed with no new date posted. The U-turn bridges have their decks but no opening date, and the full Artcraft project is still scheduled for 2030. For Desert Springs, the north side lets up first, and the south side could stay under construction for years.

If you're thinking about listing a home in Desert Springs while the ramps are still closed, timing matters. Showings, buyer routes and launch dates all have to work around the closure schedule. We follow these postings week to week. Call or text Derek & DJ for a free 15-minute market evaluation, and we'll go through your timeline and how the construction schedule fits into it.