TxDOT Remains Driven

Funding roadblocks haven’t halted highway activity

By Debra Wood

From north to south, east to west, the Texas Department of Transportation has projects under way to ease congestion and keep traffic flowing.

“We have invested historic levels of funding to improve mobility and safety across Texas,” Amadeo Saenz, TxDOT executive director, says. “TxDOT’s 2006 construction program let a record $5.3 billion worth of contracts, nearly double the amount let in 2000.”

In 2003, the state enacted transportation legislation that opened the door to public-private partnerships that could speed construction of new corridors. It also allowed use of vehicle inspection and driver’s license fees for road building.

“New financial tools provided by the Texas Legislature have allowed us to advance needed transportation improvements at this unprecedented pace,” Saenz adds.

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Dallas In August, the North Texas Tollway Authority entered into an agreement with TxDot to design, build, operate and maintain for 50 years State Highway 121 in Collin, Dallas and Denton counties. NTTA will assume responsibility for operations and construction along the 26-mi corridor in September, when the first two TxDOT funded segments open.

Austin Bridge & Road of Dallas is the contractor for a $103 million, 5.8-mi segment from east of FM 2281 to the Dallas North Tollway, and Balfour Beatty Infrastructure of Atlanta received the $84 million contract for frontage roads and an interchange at State Highway 289.

NTTA paid TxDOT more than $3 billion, which TxDOT spokesman Randy Black says allowed TxDOT to fund other pending projects. The first of those will be the widening of a 2.8-mi stretch of the Eldorado Parkway, serving Frisco. W.W. Webber Contractors of Houston submitted the winning bid at $21.2 million, Frisco officials say.

“It was a win-win for everybody, especially the Dallas District,” Black says.

Fort Worth The Fort Worth District has $644 million in work under way. W.W. Webber holds the largest contract, a $168 project, 2-mi-long reconstruction project on Interstate 30 from Cooper Street to Ballpark Way. It includes rebuilding the Collins Street Bridge, building a new bridge at Baird Farm Road and extending managed lanes from the Tarrant/Dallas County line to Ballpark Way.

An aerial view of work under way in Fort Worth on IH-30. W.W. Webber is the contractor.

W.W. Webber also holds a $56 million contract to reconstruct the interchange and railroad crossing on State Highway 360 at Division Street and a $44 million contract for the rehabilitation of Interstate 20 in Palo Pinto and Parker County.

HoustonMultiple major projects, totaling more than $2 billion, are under way in the Houston District, including a new Galveston Causeway and an interchange upgrade on the Gulf Freeway. Other projects include those on the North Freeway, the North Loop, the Eastex Freeway, the Southwest Freeway and the Crosby Freeway.

“The projects tend to reflect the growing Houston region,” says TxDOT spokesman Norm Wigington. “For three years, the Houston District has lettings of $1 billion each year. The projects that were awarded during these high-letting years are now coming to completion.”

Work on the Galveston causeway will be completed by Traylor Bros. in December.

Traylor Bros. of Evansville, Ind., is working on the $135.9 million, 2.3-mi Galveston Causeway. Completion is scheduled for December.

Also on the Gulf Freeway, in Harris County, W.W. Webber and Texas Sterling Construction of Houston are working on the NASA Road 1 interchange, with $54.4 million and $36.1 million contracts respectively. And Texas Sterling is expected to complete the $40.6 million, 5.5-mi Webster Bypass in September.

Williams Brothers Construction Co. of Houston is working on a $238 million, 7.4-mi widening of the North Freeway in Montgomery County to eight main lanes plus high-occupancy vehicle lanes. Two of the segments were set to finish this year, and the largest $175 million contract in 2011.

On the North Loop in Harris County, W.W. Webber is reconstructing bridges. A $34 million project from IH 45-North to U.S. 59-Eastex Freeway should wrap up this year, and a $76 million project U.S. 59-Eastex Freeway to Gellhorn in 2010.

Sterling will wrap up work on the widening of U.S. 59/Eastex Freeway in Montgomery County later this year.

Texas Sterling and Williams Bros. are working on the Eastex Freeway in Montgomery County. Texas Sterling is widening the road to eight main lines and three frontage lanes from FM 1314 to Northpark Drive. The $90.6 million project is scheduled for completion in 2009. Williams Bros holds a $59.6 million overpass contract from Roman Forest to Community Drive and a $57.4 million contract to widen the 3.3 mi of road to six main lanes and three frontage road lanes from FM 2090 to Roman Forest. Both should finish at the end of 2010.

Williams Bros. also holds two Southwest Freeway contracts in Harris and Fort Bend counties. The first $71 million job to reconstruct eight lanes from Mandell to Spur 527 was scheduled for completion this spring. The other, a $152.5 million project in Fort Bend, will reconstruct from University Blvd to SH 99/FM 2759 over the Brazos River. It should wrap up in March.

Williams Bros. of Houston continues work on the U.S. 59 project, which includes a bridge over the Brazos River in Sugar Land.

On the Crosby Freeway in Harris County, Williams Bros. is constructing six main lanes along 2.7 mi from Mercury Drive to Wallisville in a $67 million contract. It’s also constructing 3.1 mi of grade separations from Wallisville to Uvalde in a $45.8 million contract. Both jobs are scheduled for 2010 completions.

A $100 million widening of the South Main and the $51 million four-lane Tomball Freeway project are expected to wrap up in March.

Austin Work is winding down on the final segment of the State Highway 130 project in Austin. Lone Star Infrastructure, a joint venture between Flour of Irving; Balfour Beatty Infrastructure of Atlanta; and T.J. Lambrecht Construction Co. of Euless, began construction on the $1.2 billion design-build project in October 2003.

Doug Fuller, Flour vice president of operations for infrastructure, expected the fourth 11-mi segment to open by press time.

Marcus Cooper, spokesperson for the Austin District of TxDOT, says the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority has approved five projects in the area, but financing for the $1.4 billion in road expansions and installation of managed lanes is not in place. The roadwork would take place on U.S. Highway 183, U.S. Highway 290 and State Highway 45.

The San Antonio Web: A $154.7 million Intersection of U.S. 281 and IH-410 Loop, is under way by Williams Bros. of Houston.

San Antonio TxDOT is building a $154.7 million San Antonio Airport interchange at U.S. 281 and IH-Loop 410, nicknamed the San Antonio Web. Funding through bonding allowed the department to move the project ahead as one large job, which will take three years, rather than 10 years.

Williams Brothers Construction Co. of Houston began work on the intersection in 2005 and is working 24-hour days, seven days a week. The scope includes expanding IH-410 from three to five lanes in each direction, widening U.S. 281 from three lanes to four lanes in each direction and building eight direct connectors between the roads.