Rockdale’s downtown TxDOT project started in April of 2021 so it has now been going on for almost a year. Numerous setbacks have plagued this project from the beginning and it has only gotten worse.
So what’s been done in a year? We do have new curbs and sidewalks along Cameron Avenue, but, except for Bowser to Scarborough, they are only on one side of the street so far. From downtown to Rainbow Courts the curbs have been done on the north side of the street, and from O’Reilly’s Auto Parts to Lee’s Landing on the south side of Cameron Avenue.
As far as downtown goes, new sidewalks and parking spots have gone in on the 100 and 200 blocks. The 100 block was poured at the wrong grade and had to be ripped up and redone. It’s now finished for the most part.
Many people have complained to the City of Rockdale, who has nothing to do with the TxDOT project, about the bump-outs at the intersection of Ackerman and Cameron. Luckily the city leaders did share these complaints with TxDOT and they agreed that the intersection was poorly designed and will be redone. Meaning what they’ve finished will be dug up and repoured, and the intersections that haven’t been finished will be on hold until the redesign is complete.
So we have good, bad and ugly. It’s good that we have new sidewalks and curbs in some places. It’s bad that so many things have gone wrong. And, in this writer’s opinion, the entire project is just ugly.
The work in front of The Reporter has been mostly completed but it is not attractive. Some areas had plastic spacers put in between the curbs and the sidewalk. A year into the project, the plastic is broken and protruding in many spots. Bits of concrete have been left everywhere and, since it’s dry, it’s not coming up. Granted, TxDOT is not done so we have to give them the benefit of the doubt that they will come back and clean everything up and fix the broken things that didn’t even last a year.
I think we can all agree that the Ackerman/Cameron intersection was not a great idea, now even TxDOT thinks so too. Every time it rains, the sidewalk in front of the old Rockdale State Bank building is impassable because of flooding. There have been sandbags added in front of the doors to keep the water out of the building. One hopes that they will address that problem when they redo it. There is also standing water with nowhere to go after a rain in the parking spots in the 200 block.
I do hate to say this because the workers with Big Creek Construction, the company hired by TxDOT to do the project, are all so nice and do keep us informed about the construction, but I think they may have bitten off more than they can chew. Since this is a government project I’m sure TxDOT had to go with the lowest bidder, but the results are reflective of that choice.
The MDD tried to get approval for this project for over nine years before TxDOT finally agreed to it. I’ve been a big cheerleader for getting it done. I just feel let down by the work, which looks nothing like the renderings I’ve seen. I was expecting more.
Is construction ever pretty? Of course not. Rockdalians are just tired of it. Maybe it will be beautiful once it’s all done. Maybe.
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