SH 73 repair update

Many motorists are wondering what TxDOT is doing to SH 73 between Port Arthur and Winnie. So, here's the lowdown on what's taking place on the 19-mile stretch of highway.

While some work is taking place in the westbound section of the highway, the project contractor is working mostly in the eastbound lanes. Over the years, the base material has become unstable causing cracking in the travel lanes. While one probably won't notice it on a casual drive, it's still a problem that has to be dealt with before it becomes a major one.

It's very similar to your home foundation. You probably won't notice too much of a problem if there is a crack in your home slab. But let it go for several years and you will have a major problem on your hands. I've yet to run across anyone who would let their home fall into the ground before making the needed repairs.

The first step is to remove the approximately three inches of existing asphalt to get to the base material, or, the highway's foundation. Workers then replace and work approximately a foot of base material. Afterwards, they lay a layer of asphalt on top of the base followed by a final riding surface of oil and rock known as a "seal coat". Seal coat involves shooting a layer of oil and then placing rock on top of the oil. The rock is rolled into place and the rest is broomed off the highway.

While seal coat is not the ideal riding surface in terms of noise, it is cheaper that regular asphalt and lasts just as long.

The question you may be asking is 'Why put seal coat on perfectly good layer of asphalt?". The reason is protection. Since we are only working certain lanes of the highway and not the entire roadway itself. a seal coat will help keep water from getting into the joints between the good section of highway and the portion being repaired. It's extremely important to keep water out of the base material.

A bad foundation makes for a really bad highway.

Look for more seal coating of some highways. Today's transportation money crunch means we have to stretch our dollars to go further than they have in the past. That means more seal coat on roads with lower traffic volumes.

Depending on the weather, the SH 73 project is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Happy Driving.
Marc S

Upcoming Project Locations

Reporter Mike Smith and the Beaumont Enterprise have come up with an easy way to track locations of upcoming construction projects.

Check out the following link: www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/data/MAP_TxDOT_projects_2010.html for an interactive map describing most of the upcoming projects for fiscal year 2010.

Happy Driving,
Marc S

District to build more than $140 million worth of projects in FY 2010

It appears Southeast Texas will be a hotbed of highway construction, at least for the next year or so.

The Beaumont District will spend approximately $146 million on transportation improvements in the eight-county district. This is really good news for the area as Texas (and the rest of the nation) faces some serious transportation funding problems.

The money covers now until August 2010 and will go to a variety of projects including installing cable barrier on I-10, widening some area highways, and repairing some bridges. Some of the money will also go towards rebuilding a section of I-10 in Orange County.

While $146 million sounds like (and is) a lot of money, it's really a small number in terms of what is really needed. To give you an idea of how much it costs to rebuild a highway, the I-10 and SH 12 interchange project in Vidor runs close to $80 million. A couple of those projects and you've just busted the entire year's transportation budget for the whole district.

But, who's complaining. We're happy to have what we have coming to us.

Texas' 100 most congested highways

Here's a list our slice of Southeast Texas is proud NOT to be on.

The Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) has compiled a list of the 100 most congested highways in the state. None of the highways the Beaumont District made the list. However, that doesn't mean you don't occassionally drive those highways when traveling to Houston and other places across the Lone Star State.

Check out the following link to see the list of highways which made the list: http://apps.dot.state.tx.us/apps/rider56/list.htm

Safe Driving.
Marc S

Small town, tough road

The city of Woodville may not be the biggest place on the map. However, it has one of the toughest road surfaces in Southeast Texas.

TxDOT's Beaumont District is wrapping up a project to resurface much of the US 69 from US 190 south. Crews resurfaced the highway with an asphalt called "SMA", or, Stone Matrix Asphalt.

SMA is a tough asphalt that can take a bit more of a beating that regular asphalt. That's important for a community that has large trucks traveling through its downtown area. SMA has been used on a number of highways throughout the district including a section through Kountze back in the late 90's.

The resurfacing project, which also included resurfacing sections of US 190 just west of town, wraps up in a couple of days.

Standing Tall...A little TOO Tall

There's apparently one driver in Southeast Texas who doesn't believe highway signs mean when they say.

Someone with a tall load, a VERY tall load, hit the Virginia Street overpass on MLK in Beaumont. The load took out chunks of concrete from the bottom of the overpass. Fortunately, after a good going over, the bridge is still structurally sound. The metal rebar is what gives it strength and there's still way plenty of metal in the beam. TxDOT, however, has a special bridge crew coming to fix the problem.

We are all scratching our heads trying to figure out how on earth the driver didn't realize something was wrong.

TxDOT to restripe US 69 through Lumberton to 5-lanes

It's the news people in Lumberton, Kountze, and places north along US 69 have been waiting for.

TxDOT has announced they will widen a portion of the highway to 5-lanes including a left-center turn lane. While it will have narrower lanes than a typical 5-lane highway, the news comes as a big relief to those who have never gotten used to congestion along one of Hardin County's most traveled highways.

Click on the above video to find out some of the details as to what will soon take place.

Happy Driving
Marc S