US 281 moving faster ... well, construction is

The work
Over the past few weeks Webber Construction has been busy setting barrier and clearing the right-of-way between Loop 1604 and Stone Oak Parkway. Heck, they even got going on the foundation of some bridge support systems.
After recent inclement weather, as ground conditions dry out and improve, crews are progressively getting back to full production. That means you'll see more and more activity. Dirt crews are now working to shape the footprint of the frontage roads. Bridge crews are starting to build the direct connectors at the 1604-281 interchange.

Human interest

A long-standing monument built along southbound US 281 just south of Encino Rio was exposed as crews cleared the overgrowth on the right-of-way. The religious-themed statue was built by the family of a young man who tragically lost his life in a crash back in 2008.
With the help of the good people at WOAI, including Emily Baucum, we were able to track down some of the young man's next-of-kin.
Last week our maintenance guys got out to the location and carefully removed the monument and have stored it in our maintenance yard. We are continuing to coordinate with the family to return the monument.
To be clear: monuments like these should not be built in highway right-of-way. There's a proper way to go about memorializing loved ones while reminding others to safely drive our highways. We don't encourage folks setting these up - when we find them, we remove them and hold onto them for about a month and try to contact the family so we can return the memorial.

Safety tidbit

Temporary concrete traffic barrier - the big concrete slabs being set by Webber Construction along the lanes of US 281 and Loop 1604 - is important because they provide crews a safer work zone while working adjacent to the travel lanes. The buffer gives some confidence the traffic, often moving faster than 55 miles per hour, will stay safely away from the work zone. After all, studies show pedestrians hit by cars traveling at least 40 miles per hour have a more-than-95 percent mortality rate.
While those barriers (or any barriers on any project, for that matter) may be an eyesore and cause you to slow down they help our guys do their work with a bit of peace of mind each day.

Stay in the know
In addition to these posts, you can get daily traffic alerts in your inbox by signing up here.