It looks like 2020’s the year.
At least the year which begins next Wednesday looks to be the year when things start happening on the largest transformation project in at least a half century for downtown Rock-dale.
For years there’s been lots of talk about what is really two projects which will transform the three blocks of Cameron Avenue (US 79) downtown with sidewalks, landscaping and a new driving surface.
Last week, Chad Bohne. Deputy District Engineer of the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) Bryan office told the Rockdale Noon Lions Club the projects should be let “very soon” and added “you should see some actual construction beginning in the year’s second half.”
The TxDOT project will extend much further than downtown, providing a new US 79 driving surface between the US 77 overpass to a point near Dollar General.
$5-MILLION—Bohne said the idea began with the City of Rockdale which took note of both the appearance and safety issues downtown and contacted TxDOT, which saw the opportunity to work with the city for a major US 79 upgrade.
“The city received a $1.3-million grant for the sidewalk relocation project,” Bohne said. “The TxDOT project is $3.7-million making a total of $5 million.”
He said the work will included pavement, drainage and utilities making those systems “more organized.”
NO NEW R-O-W—The sidewalk project will include curb bumpouts (sidewalk-extending, “traffic calming” areas), accessible ramps, fencing and some new entrances to buildings.
Rockdale City Manager Chris Whittaker pointed out that no new right-of-way will be needed for any of the projects. “This will all take place within the existing TxDOT right of way,” he said.
New curb and guttering will also be part of the project.
The new sidewalks will facilitate pedestrian traffic along US 79 downtown in addition to improving the appeal of the area.
Sidewalks in the area have not been upgraded in many decades and currently there’s a potential for tripping due to uneven grades. That will be smoothed out in the upcoming project.
“We don’t have any specific month to start,” Bohne said. “But it looks like you ought to see some things going in the second half of 2020.”
He noted construction should be going on virtually the entirety of 2021.
BARRELS—“It’s a 12 to 18-month project,” he said. “Of course what compounds this is that we will be working on a US highway and have to provide a way for people to remain using it while we’re working.”
“You are going to see a lot of those orange barrels through this project,” he said.
Bohne said TxDOT knows there will be disruption for motorists but that he doubts there will be much use of lane closure/pilot cars during the work.
“Then there’s always the weather,” he said. “It’s pretty difficult to give an exact time period for the project to be completed,” he said.
In the Scarbrough to Burleson downtown section the current 4-lane striping will be replaced with the three-lane concept—two driving lanes and a left-turn-only lane—which currently exists on US 79 east of the downtown area.
“This will allow for more parking space and vehicles will no longer have to park partially on the sidewalk to keep from sticking out into the traffic,” Whittaker said.
Also, the current right turn lane from US 79 onto Scarbrough for eastbound traffic will be reconfigured to a short-right turn.
That lane is notorious for drivers not accustomed to Rockdale traffic patterns, who often “get trapped” in that far right lane then have to quickly merge to the left when they find its “right turn only at Scarbrough.”
DANGEROUS—Bohne said TxDOT plans to spend $50 million in upgrading Milam County roads and bridges over the next four years.
That total includes a “grade separation” at the dangerous and deadly US 77-FM 485 intersection north of Cameron, site of numbers of fatal crashes.
He said that project involves one of those thoroughfares passing over the other, eliminating the cur-
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