The northbound entrance ramp from Nakoma Drive has been replaced with a temporary ramp nearer to Bitters Road, allowing Williams Brothers Construction to begin more aggressive work on adjustments to the U.S. 281 corridor near Wurabach Parkway.
 |
| The new temporary ramp for traffic coming from Nakoma onto the northbound U.S. 281 main lanes will allow work to progress quickly along this corridor. |
That includes constructing braided ramps - that is, an exit ramp bridged over an entrance ramp - in the vicinity of the old entrance ramp. The braided ramp will serve traffic exiting to Bitters Road and traffic entering northbound U.S. 281 from Nakoma Drive and Wurzbach Parkway. Before the visible structures can be built there, though, trenching crews will finish the complex drain structures in the area. That should be finished in March.
Saturday morning, 6 a.m., bridge crews will close alternating lanes of West Avenue to pour the overpass bridge deck. Work will continue through the day; project managers anticipate clearing out of the work zone around 6 p.m. As long as nothing squirrely happens through the day, we'll keep one lane open in each direction.
 |
| The West Avenue overpass bridge has been prepped for concrete. Alternating lanes of West Avenue will close Saturday while crews pour concrete on the first half of the bridge deck. |
Saturday's pour will complete half the overpass bridge. Next week's weather forecast will determine when the second half of the bridge gets poured; if it's warm enough, bridge builders will pour the second half overnight next week. If overnight temperatures are too cold (concrete work typically requires temperatures above 40 degrees) we'll have to push the second-half work to next Saturday.
As for the Blanco Road overpass ... It's still in Liberty Mutual's court (that is, the decision on when to open the overpass). That said, Texas Sterling reports pavement crews are scheduled to address the bridge deck surface issues in the upcoming weeks with the goal of opening the overpass in March.
