The most sweeping changes in decades to US 79 in downtown Rockdale are near and the city had its first discussion with owners of highway frontage on Thursday.
City Manager Chris Whittaker said major discussion points were re-striping of the highway from four lanes to three (with a center turn lane) and access.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is planning a major drainage and traffic project which could start as soon as next summer.
FOUR-TO-THREE—
“We sent letters to about 50 persons in that area—roughly between the US 77 overpass and Dollar General—inviting them to meet with engineers, Whittaker said.
He said most of the comments were in two areas, the downtown traffic pattern re-striping and access to business parking, some of which will change.
The longtime four lane—two lanes in each direction—configuration on US 79 between Green and Scarbrough will change to three lanes with one lane in each direction and a center left-turn lane.
That was a compromise reached with TxDOT after an initial plan recommended parallel parking in downtown blocks.
After opposition developed, and a series of meetings, the parallel parking idea was dropped and the three-lane striping substituted.
“This is a safety issue,” Whittaker said.
Concerns have been expressed over how close outside lanes of traffic are to vehicles parked on those downtown blocks.
Whittaker also noted the current westbound “bottleneck” at Scarbrough Street (see photos above) is a continuing problem for many drivers.
“You will see them in the far right lane (westbound), then realize that lane is being taken away and move back left into a lane of traffic,” he said.
ACCESS—He noted in some places along the route to be upgraded there aren’t any designated turning areas into parking lots.
“That will change as the project unfolds,” he said. “We got some feedback on that.”
Whittaker said TxDOT and engineers will accept feedback from the public, prepare a plan and hope to let bids on the upgrade by June, 2019.
“Construction should begin in September and it should last about one year,” he said.
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