Official: Area Road Projects on Schedule

By Jeff Raymond, The Brownsville Herald, Texas

Jun. 1–Three major highway construction projects in the Brownsville area remain on schedule and should be finished by March 2008, a Texas Department of Transportation official said Wednesday.

In the heart of Brownsville, a $72-million, 52-month project covered widening from Alton Gloor Boulevard to downtown, said Arnold Cortez, TxDOT’s area engineer.

Work on decorative expressway walls is almost finished. Workers have also finished expanding the FM 802 and Price Road overpasses. They now are working on the Boca Chica Boulevard overpass and nearby roads.

Remaining is work on the Sixth and Seventh street overpasses.

Work should be complete by November 2007.

“Everything is so far on schedule,” Cortez said.

TxDOT also is designing an upgrade to FM 511 to begin in August 2007.

“When we’re done with it, we’ll keep the existing (FM) 511 and we’ll build a new roadway opposite it,” Cortez said.

In another project, the widening of Highway 48 and its bridges is about 55 percent complete, he said. Contractors are beginning to work on the three bridges over the Bahia Grande and San Martin Lake and a bridge that allows wildlife to cross underneath, he said.

The cost of the 16-month, 9.5-mile highway widening and bridge project is $16.8 million. Work should be completed in December. The highway will have four lanes, a center turning lane and a center concrete barrier. It also will have places for motorists to safely turn around.

“It will look pretty nice, but what’s going to be important is we’re going to add extra lanes,” Cortez said, predicting the expansion would cut down on accidents.

In a third project, work on Expressway 77/83 between FM 511 and Highway 100 in Rancho Viejo is about a quarter complete. Eventually, the highway will have six lanes and rebuilt frontage roads.

Four bridges also will be widened, for a total cost of $33 million. The 29-month project will be completed by March 2008.

Cortez stressed motorists need to observe speed limits and signs and noted traffic fines are doubled in construction zones when workers are present.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Brownsville Herald, Texas

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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