Tuesday, October 14

The skinny on the Fred-Med closure

Update 21 October: No date has been announced for the start of this closure and work; we hope to have a solid date set by the end of next week.

Original post:
As of 4 p.m. today (Tuesday) the planned closure of Fredericksburg Road (and the work associated with it) has been pushed back to Friday, October 24. The reason? Project folks are still waiting for some structural tests on concrete that's already been poured. Those test results are expected to be ready by mid-week next week, so we should be ready to roll next weekend.

Here's the plan:

At 12:01 a.m. Saturday morning (basically, midnight Friday night) Texas Sterling Construction will completely close Fredericksburg Road at Medical Drive in the Medical Center area. This closure will last for two weeks. Traffic on Fred Rd will be able to turn right onto Medical, which will allow the use of some city surface streets to still reach their destinations. However, expect this to be a sticky area with traffic bogged down a bit in all directions. If there's another way for you to get where you're going, you'd be wise to take it.

Here's a look at the potential detour routes for the Fred-Med work:

With Fredericksburg Road closed, Texas Sterling will excavate the intersection, completely tearing out the roadway that is now Fredericksburg Road. Folks with Texas Sterling expect to have that excavation finished within 48 hours.

The bridge support structures - columns, caps, etc. - are already in place. Remember those steel plates you drove on for about eight months? Those were to allow crews to build the bridge supports under the road you were driving on. With the roadway excavated they'll be able to uncover those structures and clean them up.

By Monday morning - and, potentially, by midday Sunday - Texas Sterling will be ready to slide the bridge deck that will form Fredericksburg Road. That process involves a hydraulic jack that will push the bridge deck along rails, aided by some Dawn dish soap (of all things) and some Teflon pads.

Once the bridge is locked in place, crews will spend at least a day or two dressing the intersection up. If all goes well, traffic could be back to normal within a full week.

But folks should keep in mind Texas Sterling has two weeks to get the work done, and they may need that full time if weather or other factors intervene to cause delays.

Again, the important details:

Start of closure: Saturday, October 25, 12:01 a.m.
Expected end of closure: Friday, November 7, midnight.

Area closed: Fredericksburg Road, both directions, at Medical Drive.
Detour route: See video above.