The orange barrels at Wilshire and SW Hulen Street went up at 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 12. For the next several weeks, the most traveled errand road in Burleson narrows to one lane in each direction at that intersection, around the clock. Crews are installing drainage culverts under the road there, the first phase of the $31.3 million widening of SH 174.
The barrels also sit at the crossroads that Burleson is reshaping from more than one direction. Hulen Street is getting its own widening and a brand-new extension, and both run out from this same intersection. The single-lane squeeze at Wilshire and Hulen this fall is the opening step of the biggest change to that corner in years.
The road residents asked the city to fix
This project didn't come out of nowhere. In the city's 2026 Resident Satisfaction Survey, residents ranked traffic congestion on TxDOT roadways as their No. 1 priority. Maintenance of city streets and sidewalks came second, then congestion on city roads. Traffic and street maintenance were near the top of the 2024 survey too.
SH 174 is a state highway, so the city doesn't control it outright. Burleson paid for the design of the Wilshire improvements through the voter-approved 2022 bond program. TxDOT is paying for and overseeing construction. That split explains a line in every city traffic notice: Burleson shares TxDOT's schedule but doesn't set closure times itself.
The finished road gets three things:
- Capacity. A third travel lane in each direction takes Wilshire from four lanes to six between Wicker Hill Road and north of Elk Drive.
- Separation. A curbed center median and dedicated turn lanes.
- The parts most drivers never see. New sidewalks plus improved drainage and traffic signals along the corridor.
State records list the job under control-section number 0019-01-146, with TxDOT's Fort Worth District as owner and Kimley-Horn as design firm. The city's October notice gives fall 2028 for completion. An earlier state registration lists June 26, 2028, but the city's newer date is the one to plan around.
The first dig is underground at Hulen
The city's announcement names drainage culverts at Wilshire and SW Hulen Street as the first phase of construction, and improved drainage is one of the upgrades planned along the whole corridor.
TxDOT is doing the Hulen work in three phases, moving across the road one section at a time:
- The right lane of northbound Wilshire closes first.
- The left lanes in both directions close next.
- The right lane of southbound Wilshire closes last.
Through all three phases, traffic at the intersection is cut to one lane each way. If the weather cooperates, TxDOT expects Wilshire at Hulen back to full capacity by mid-November 2026. From today, that's roughly three to four weeks of single-lane driving through the intersection, assuming no rain delays.
The first week also brought a separate TxDOT job. From 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on the nights of Tuesday through Thursday, Oct. 13 to 15, SH 174 was scheduled to close between Renfro Street and I-35W so crews could install an overhead sign bridge, which also shut several I-35W ramps. The last of those overnight closures was set to end early Friday, Oct. 16. It shows why drivers need two kinds of updates on this corridor: notices about the widening, and notices about other state work that happens to share the road.
TxDOT says it plans to work at night when possible over the life of the widening. The city posts current closures, detours and traffic-pattern changes at burlesontx.com/174.
The errand list that runs on Wilshire
The SW Wilshire Blvd address covers a big share of Burleson's weekly errands. A partial list of stops on Wilshire:
| Stop | Address on Wilshire |
|---|---|
| 7 Brew | 627 SW Wilshire Blvd |
| Baskin-Robbins | 735 SW Wilshire Blvd |
| Chipotle | 828 SW Wilshire Blvd |
| Walmart Supercenter | 951 SW Wilshire Blvd |
| Glo Tanning | 1561 SW Wilshire Blvd |
| Sprouts Farmers Market | 1679 SW Wilshire Blvd |
| Texas Health Burleson | 2750 SW Wilshire Blvd, at Lakewood Drive |
A few of these are new to the corridor. Sprouts opened at 1679 SW Wilshire on June 27, 2025. Glo Tanning opened at 1561 SW Wilshire in November 2025. Wilshire has kept adding destinations in the years since voters approved the 2022 bond that paid for its redesign.
Not every address on that list sits inside the active work zone, and the zone itself will move over two years. Right now the confirmed construction is at Hulen. For a trip that crosses that intersection, the city's advice is simple: allow extra time, expect traffic patterns to change, watch for crews and signs, and use other routes when you can.
Hulen is getting rebuilt too
This is where Wilshire and Hulen becomes more than a single work zone. Burleson's Oct. 6 update on capital projects describes two separate city projects on Hulen Street, and both start at SH 174:
- A wider Hulen. Plans call for widening Hulen between SH 174 and Candler Drive, with turn lanes, shared-use paths, water and sewer lines, and a new traffic signal at Candler Drive.
- A longer Hulen. A later project extends Hulen from SH 174 to FM 731/John Jones Drive, a new road with shared-use paths on both sides.
Put that next to the Wilshire plans and the intersection crews dug up first will eventually see more change than any other spot on the corridor. Wilshire gets wider through it, Hulen gets wider on one side of it, and a new stretch of Hulen begins there toward FM 731. The culverts going in this fall sit under the meeting point of all three.
The same city update lists other active road projects around town: the Alsbury Boulevard expansion, the Village Creek Parkway expansion, the Wicker Hill Road and Greenridge Drive reconstruction, and new sidewalks and pedestrian improvements.
All told, the city counts 48 active capital projects. Street and sidewalk improvements make up the largest share at 46%, ahead of water and sewer at 31%, parks at 19% and facilities at 4%. Burleson also counts more than $2.5 billion in regional transportation projects planned, underway or recently finished in and around town, on state roads that include I-35W, SH 174 and FM 917.
The other cranes along Wilshire
Some of the construction you see along Wilshire is a different project. At 1161 SW Wilshire Blvd., the Burleson Police Department headquarters expansion is visibly taking shape. During the third quarter of 2026, crews finished the structural steel framing and poured the second-level concrete slab on the main addition, and the roof has been installed since then. That project is also paid for by the 2022 bond and is on track to finish in fall 2027, about a year before the road work outside is scheduled to wrap. The city posts construction photos and a timelapse on its project page.
What's on the calendar from here
| When | What | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 12, 2026 | Hulen culvert work and lane closures begin | Underway |
| Nights of Oct. 13 to 15, 2026 | Overnight SH 174 closure, Renfro to I-35W, for sign bridge | Scheduled to end early Oct. 16 |
| Mid-November 2026 | Wilshire at Hulen expected back to full capacity, weather permitting | Upcoming |
| Fall 2027 | BPD headquarters expansion expected to finish | On track per city |
| Fall 2028 | SH 174 six-lane widening expected to finish | City forecast |
The city hasn't released a segment-by-segment order for the work after Hulen. The best way to see where crews go next is the city's SH 174 traffic updates page, where Burleson says it will keep posting TxDOT's lane-closure schedules. All construction dates can shift with weather and other conditions.
Once the mid-November mark passes, Wilshire and Hulen should get its full lanes back for now, with the new culverts in place under the intersection where the wider Hulen and the Hulen extension will both begin.
Wondering how two years of Wilshire construction fits with a move, a listing or a closing date in Burleson? The Alexa Boedeker Team has followed Burleson's road plans closely and is glad to talk through timing over coffee, wherever your route takes you this month. Contact us.
