Up to now most of the work along
North Austin Street (Business 123) in Seguin has been about installing drain systems and moving around utilities. This is the least flashy part of any type of road construction, and often the more disruptive. The specialized crews are often smaller and work is typically done only in a few spots at a time. Despite the appearance of sporadic work it's kept the road to a one-way road since work got started back in 2016.
The good news is all that messy stuff is part of the drawn-out early phases of the project.
Curran Contracting is about ready to move into the more visible road construction phases. They do have some storm drains still to install - notably
along Seidmann Street just west of North Austin - but are pretty much focusing on the actual road bed. They've already had some dirt crews getting the road bed ready by cutting the dirt down to the right elevation, but weather over the last several weeks has slowed production considerably. When you're trying to work with and stabilize dirt, a good rain pushes work back several days - crews have to wait for the ground to dry out completely to get good work done. As soon as dry weather clears out the moisture in the dirt, Curran will lime treat the subgrade. After the lime treatment is finished, the subgrade will be cement treated. If weather holds all this should be wrapped up right about the time we're
all tucked away for our long winter's nap.
About the beginning of 2018 you'll see asphalt on the road. On top of the 18 inches of dirt subgrade we are placing at least eight inches of asphalt. We want this road to last a while! When we start laying asphalt we can open lanes back up to two-way traffic on the new pavement.
Let's say that again, another way.
One-way traffic is expected to be over, forever, in January. We will still have work to do, but your greatest inconveniences will be done. And for those who forgot what this $5.3 million project will look like when we're all done, here you go (click to enlarge):
