Comal County project round-up

It's been a little while, and some big things have been happening. So ... let's take a look at the latest in Comal County....

Seguin Avenue

Monday morning crews contracted by TxDOT shut down Seguin Avenue at the UPRR crossing - essentially between Nacogdoches Avenue and Hampe Avenue - in New Braunfels. That closure will last six months. We've discussed it here at length, so let's skip most of the redundancy and just look at what's happening so far....

First, the posted detour route changed a little. Rather than routing traffic on Nacogdoches, Comal Street and Hampe, the city of New Braunfels asked we use Faust, Comal and Hampe. Folks are still going to Nacogdoches, and that's just fine. Be aware the signs will direct folks to Faust, though. The thought behind the change is that traffic at Faust is not stopped by a stop sign at Comal, and the turn isn't as shart off Seguin to Faust. This will allow space for trucks to get where they need to go without undue trouble.

With Seguin Ave closed at the UPRR crossing, traffic is using Nacogdoches or Faust to get to Comal and then to Hampe to get along their way.

Whatever the route, traffic seems to be moving smoothly enough. No major issues have been noted by those on the project site.

So far, most of the work has involved the removal of the old brick-and-mortar retaining walls. The stones are being preserved and cleaned, and will be re-set by hand as a facade for the new retaining wall. The guys in the field say the old ones were really hard to get out, too - good, old-fashioned craftsmanship!

The old stone is being carefully removed and hauled off to a site to be washed and restored. It will be placed by hand along the new retaining wall to preserve the historic look of the underpass.

FM 306

After speaking with the project personnel on this project this morning, it's hard to not be excited about how quickly things are moving. Barring any unforeseen delays, we should have at least one railroad overpass (near Hunter Lane) in service by the start of 2014. The other overpass (near Goodwin) shouldn't be more than two months behind that.

Hunter Industries - our contractor on that project - is developing a plan to clean up and expand the intersection of Hunter Lane. Hunter Lane is the traditional road folks use to get to Historic Gruene, and we've got a sign out there telling folks they can't turn left (toward Gruene, coming from I-35) at the intersection. Instead, we've been re-routing folks onto Common Street since May.

The idea, I'm told, is to expand the intersection to what it'll be looking like when we're all done as quickly as they can. That'll give folks a protected left-turn lane into Gruene, easing up some of the traffic there.

Completing the intersection at Hunter Lane is a priority for project personnel.

But "soon" to the contractor and "soon" to Joe Q. Traveler are apples and oranges sometimes. To be fair, Hunter Industries is flat-out moving on this job. But by "soon", they're hoping to have that intersection in action sometime before next summer; the plans drafted by TxDOT designers showed the intersection being shrunk down to what it is now for another year or so.

In fact, the contractor is pushing hard to finish almost all the work they can between I-35 and Hunter that isn't a bridge. That mostly has to do with the fact they're hitting a stopping point at the bridges due to some utilities conflicts - at Goodwin, for instance, the bridge structure can't be built any higher until the power lines and the phone and cable lines are lifted higher. That's not happening quite yet. One utility company is saying they may not be finished with their work for another eight months.

The overpass bridge at Goodwin is about as far built as it can go until the utility lines are moved out of the way.

For those of you in the area, it's not a locally owned utility company that's eating up all that time; I won't mention any names, though.

At any rate, a drive through the project will show the contractor's aim; drain inlets are being put in left and right (literally), and retaining walls are being formed. By the end of the year, we may see a traffic switch that will seperate the eastbound traffic and the westbound traffic, allowing the contractor to do all the work they need to do right down the middle of the road.

By years' end, project bosses are hoping to have traffic driving on the shoulder areas being built up now; road crews will then be able to move into the center area of the proposed roadway to work.

US 281 (Spring Branch)

With major power companies already gone through (now) to move power poles that were once planted firmly in the middle of our new roadway lanes, the contractor is almost ready to start paving. Last week they had most of the road base built - like a dirt foundation for the road itself - and were sealing the surface of that base with a mixture of oil, tar and gravel.

Road builders have busily sealed the roadway base and prepped most of the new road on the north end of the project for asphalt. Project bosses hope to find a way to move traffic onto this new road before the end of the year.

Most of the work near pavement-ready is easy to see - especially at the intersection of US 281 and FM 306 near the Blanco County line. But we're working on some other areas, and hope to have the south portion of the roadway ready for traffic soon as well.

Again, that's "soon" - as in, within a few months.

The most common question asked is about the US Post Office. Still no answers on our end; we're anxious to have that issue resolved, though, as that property is the last one holding up the work on the project. Once it's out of the contractor's way, folks in the area will be pleasantly surprised at how fast the project gets finished.

The view from the ridge south of the US Post Office. Clearing work is underway here, but the contractor is hoping to work hard at building the actual road as soon as the Post Office property is open to be worked on.