A small tree that's hanging into the road on the westbound Loop 1604 access road between Pat Booker Road and I-35 will be removed by the end of the week to address a safety issue.
But that's not the biggest news on the I-35 Selma project; that distinction belongs to the FM 3009 intersection.
FM 3009
The north-to-south turnaround will open Friday, December 20 - four days before Dan Williams Company project superintendent George Mayfield promised. George says project manager Freddy Cole is the hero for the work; Freddy has been on-site with the crews, pushing for maximum productivity every moment crews were on site.
Over the last week the medians and pedestrian ramps were formed and poured, with work finishing up Thursday. The barriers were moved Tuesday and Wednesday, replaced by barrels. The final surface of asphalt was laid yesterday, and Thursday painters marked the roadway stripes.
The turnaround - and the lanes over FM 3009 - will be opened up in time for the Friday evening commute. This should be particularly good news to the folks at the city of Schertz....
While concrete crews have begun working on the south-to-north turnaround over the last few days, the heavy work on that turnaround will begin after New Year's. That turnaround should be open by the end of the first quarter next year.
Milestone Two
The second major milestone on the project (the first was the northbound exit ramp to Forum Parkway, finished up by Thanksgiving this year) calls for the contractor to reconstruct the northbound exit ramp to FM 3009. The ramp will gain a lane - making two exit lanes to FM 3009 - and will get some improvements to the drain structures at the site.
That work will require the ramp to be completely closed for the work, forcing traffic headed to FM 3009 to use the Schertz Parkway exit. That, or drivers can use the next available exit and turn around ... whichever suits the driver.
Dan Williams has three weeks to finish that work; that is, from the day they close the ramp, they'll have three weeks to have it reopened for use. When that ramp closes, the entrance ramp from FM 1518 will open. The entrance ramp will remain open for use.
Work on Milestone Two is slated to start in January. An exact date for that closure will be given when it's "set in concrete".
Loop 1604
Through the last week we've been working on resolving the pavement issues on the ramp from Loop 1604 onto northbound I-35, requiring more closures than had been initially scheduled.
To those impacted by those closures, please accept our deepest apologies. Often those closures only lasted a few hours, and were needed to ensure a safe and secure drive.
Rather than patching the road as initially planned, pavers milled out some 10 inches of asphalt and repaved the ramp. Project personnel are confident this should adequately address the issues that had been encountered.
FM 1518
Dan Williams will close the intersection of FM 1518 at I-35 - the roads beneath the I-35 bridge - for a 24-hour period to build all the storm drain features at the intersection. That work will be done on a Sunday - right now supervisors are targeting Jan. 19 or Jan. 26 for that work.
With the intersection closed, cross traffic will need to use the access roads to Schertz Parkway or Evans Road to reach its destination.
