A $4.1 million street maintenance project is set to begin later this month to three of Taylor’s most important thoroughfares, and city officials are telling the public to get ready.
At the regular meeting July 27, officials briefed city leaders on a construction plan to complete street maintenance, including seal coating, sidewalk reconstruction, street reclamation, restriping and lane configuration changes to Mallard Lane from Carlos G. Parker Boulevard to Main Street, Second Street, from Debus Drive to Main Street, and Fourth Street, from Main Street to Gym Street.
“This is an update to just let citizens know it’s going to be chaotic and hectic for a while,” said City Manager Brian LaBorde at the meeting. “It’s going to be busy, so we ask for patience.”
According to the city, the construction will require some street closures during the project, which is expected to be completed by next spring.
“This is a big change,” said Jacob Walker, an engineer with the city’s engineering firm HDR Engineering, Inc. “We want to make sure we are presenting this to council and to the community consistently. Fourth Street will have the most disruption because it will have the area of full reconstruction.”
Part of construction, which will be completed by Texas Road LLC., has already begun on Mallard in the form of striping school zones and crosswalks before school begins, Walker said.
“The existing road on Mallard Lane is two wide lines with not much striping, and that will be converted into two lanes with a buffered bicycle lane on the north side of the road,” Walker said. “This street will be done through reclamation, so it will be done with a big machine that will mix up the existing asphalt and base material and inject cement into it, which will stiffen it up and give it strength. They will put that back down and then come back on top with a new two inches of asphalt.”
In addition, Second Street from Carlos G Parker to Main Street will be resurfaced and restriped and angled parking will be added on the north and south sides of the street from Davis Street to Main Street, which will reduce that section of the roadway from four to two lanes, Walker said.
But the most disruptive change, Walker said, will be to Fourth, which will also receive a seal coat, and require one small area of total reconstruction from right outside City Hall to the bridge.
“Where it is real bumpy, there will be full reconstruction there,” Walker said. “The lane configuration is going to change from two lanes in each direction with a very small four-foot shoulder to one lane in each direction with a center turn lane and then parking on one side and bicycle lanes on the north side. The road narrows as you go east, so you will drop the parking on the south side and continue the bicycle track on the north side of the road.”
Concurrently, the Texas Department of Transportation has already started on a $5.6 million preventative maintenance work project on Carlos G. Parker Boulevard from Second to Fourth streets that will last until November of 2023.
For more information on the city’s street maintenance program, go to https://www.ci.taylor. tx.us/1171/Taylor-onthe- Move “
It’s going to be busy, so we ask for patience.”
-City Manager Brian LaBorde
