State updates on local transportation projects
November 15, 2017
The Texas Department of Transportation on Tuesday gave an update on road projects in Chambers and Liberty counties, as well as in Baytown, including the $855 million expansion of the Grand Parkway.
TxDOT Engineer Omar Deleon, project manager for Section H & I of the Grand Parkway, gave a rundown of several road projects at the West Chambers County Chamber of Commerce luncheon Tuesday.
DeLeon discussed the construction on State Highway 99, or the Grand Parkway. The design-build team for the project is Grand Parkway Infrastructure. It will start construction in summer or fall of 2018.
“Their plan is to have as much design ready as possible,” Deleon said. “This goes from Highway 146 to US 59 and New Caney. It will connect what is already built at the New Caney area. It will connect all of that down to the 146 area in Baytown.”
DeLeon said the target open is about 2022.
“It is four-and-a-half years of delivery schedule and 52 miles of road, which is pretty impressive,” he said. “There are a lot of road and bridge structures out there.”
DeLeon said they plan to open it up entirely and not in segments.
“Doing it in segments would mean interim signage, and this and that,” he said. “The corridor will function better once it is open.”
There had been meetings in Baytown and Dayton about the aesthetics of the Grand Parkway project by GPI covering the H & I segments.
Heather DeLapp, GPI spokeswoman, said the contractors plan to have more public outreach events.
“We will have a robust plan, and a website should be ready by the end of the year,” she said.
Comments can be emailed to info@gpi-99.com. A project fact sheet is available at http://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/spd/cda/sh99-hi/project-sheet.pdf.
Their Facebook site has updates at www.facebook.com/sh99grandpkwy. Or visit their Twitter at @sh99grandpkwy.
DeLeon also touched on a number of other projects in the area.
Construction was finished this summer at FM 3180 and FM 565, a $6.3 million project, DeLeon said.
“I know this was frustrating for (school) district folks and now that it is done, it is a true testament of how much the infrastructure in the area is really going to help us going forward,” DeLeon said.
DeLeon also said the Mont Belvieu Sidewalk construction project FM 565 and Eagle Drive is supposed to be completed soon, either later this year or early 2018. DeLeon added that weather might factor into when the project is complete. This project is estimated to cost $949,954.
Some other road projects include the I-10 corridor in both Chambers and Jefferson counties. The department plans to widen FM 365 to six lanes and add a concrete median barrier. This project is expected to be done in 2020, at the cost of about $145 million.
DeLeon went over projects that fall within the fiscal year 2018, which runs until Aug. 1, 2018. At Highway 146 and I-10, DeLeon said his office is working with Mont Belvieu to extend a left turn lane on the westbound I-10 frontage road.
TxDOT will start accepting bids from contractors to perform drain work in April of 2018, and the project can begin once bids are selected.
The estimated cost of the Highway 146 and I-10 project is $300,000.
For State Highway 73, DeLeon said they are planning construction on the overpass at SH 124 and are extending frontage roads. This project is expected to cost $15 million and bids are set to begin April 2018.
At FM 565, DeLeon said they plan to widen the paved surface width from FM 3180 to 1.4 miles east of FM 3180, which he said goes to just east of the Plantation Drive intersection. The estimated cost $1.1 million.
For the FM 3180 corridor, from I-10 to FM 565, DeLeon said they are widening it to four lanes with a continuous left turn lane. They are also reconfiguring the I-10 Bridge to an overpass to accommodate five lanes toward Eagle Drive. The estimated cost is $35 million.
For the FM 2354 corridor, from FM 3180 to Fisher Road, DeLeon said they will widen the roadway to accommodate continuous left turn lane or left turn bays as needed. The estimated cost is $3 million.
Other projects include widening the paved surface width from Old River Drive to BB Lane at a cost of $2.4 million.
Overall, for the fiscal year 2018, DeLeon said there are seven total projects with a combined estimated construction cost of $56.8 million in Chambers County alone.