By LESLEE BASSMAN, Four Points News
If you eye a road paving truck in your western Travis County neighborhood in the coming months, you can thank Travis County officials and its Transportation and Natural Resources division.
Travis County Commissioners Court approved the Transportation and Natural Resources Road & Bridge 2018 Work Plan Jan. 18, following a rescheduling of its Jan. 16 meeting due to inclement weather. The plan, sponsored in part by Precinct Two Commissioner Brigid Shea, spans across the court’s four precincts, with the Four Points area slated for overlay paving, rejuvenation, roadway striping and sidewalk repair projects over the next 12 months.
“We’ve got a computerized, metric system that we ask an independent contractor to run every five years,” TNR Traffic Engineer Scott Lambert said. “The last one was done in 2015.”
The 2018 list of projects was compiled from roads identified in a 2015 Pavement Conditions Study as needing maintenance and updated after some of the projects in the 2015 road document were completed in 2016 and 2017.
The goal of the program is to maintain 70 percent of the county’s roads in “fair or better condition,” Commissioners Court documents state. But Commissioners Court Judge Sarah Eckhardt said she wants the county to do even better.
“I have asked staff to take a look at our trajectory with regard to our ability to meet or exceed 75 percent or better roadway standard countywide, to look at personnel resources and finance necessary to keep that projection tipping upward,” she said.
Specifically, the 2018 plan includes adding a 1.5-inch paving overlay to portions of:
- Manana Street at Pearce Road;
- Oak Shores;
- Patio Circle;
- Portobella Drive (between Quinlan Park Road and Mira Vista Drive; and between Mira Vista Drive and Soledat Court);
- Robbins Road at Oak Shores;
- Smoky Ridge at Pearce Road; and
- Tydings Cove at Pearce Road.
The overlay—adding 1.5 inches of asphalt on top of the roadway—allows it to “last a little longer” and seals the pavement from allowing water to penetrate, TNR Assistant Public Works Director David Hunter said.
Funds for the overlay projects will become available in May or June, with an estimated start date in September or October, he said. However, since these projects will take up to a year to complete, the program will roll over to the following fiscal year, FY 2019, he said.
All of Precinct Two’s rejuvenation projects are located among streets in the Bell Mountain and Long Canyon areas adjacent to RM 2222 and City Park Road.
Rejuvenation is a process that adds a liquid to the road to soften the surface of the pavement, Lambert said. It is mainly used on the East Coast but has been implemented locally for the past six to seven years, he said.
“It’s like a moisturizing condition(er) to the asphalt to make it pliable so it doesn’t crack up and let water reach the pavement,” Lambert said. ”Each application is about 3/8 of an inch thick and adds about five years at a time to the life of the pavement.”
He said the rejuvenation projects will begin in the spring and summer, with a completion date in the fall.
About 36 miles of Precinct Two’s roadways will be restriped but officials have not yet determined which streets will receive the restriping.
Under the plan, Steiner Ranch will receive sidewalk repair projects. Although the projects focus on bringing the sidewalks up to compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act standards, the project may include other essential repairs.
The roads that will be restriped are those roads being repaved in the work plan but also include roads in the precinct “that have faded enough that they need to be restriped,” Hunter said.
The sidewalk project includes:
- Portobella Drive (from Mira Vista Drive to Soledat Court);
- Quinlan Park Road (from Country Trails Lane to University Club Drive);
- Steiner Ranch Boulevard;
- Mulberry Creek Drive;
- Runnels Court;
- Standfield Court;
- Wharton Court; and
- Caney Creek Road.
“If there is some missing sidewalk in an area, we would probably add to it,” Lambert said. “Sometimes you have a sidewalk that ends, for whatever reason, and if we can tie it into another (sidewalk), we’ll do that.”
Sidewalk construction will take place throughout the year, with most repairs completed by September, Hunter said.
The new plan posts more projects on the eastern side of the county.
“The western side (of Travis County) is on solid limestone rock,” Lambert said. “The roads don’t get as rough and bumpy as the ones on the east side because the east side has high plasticity soils…a challenge to maintain because of the moving soils below it.”
Maintenance funds, used to facilitate the 2018 plan’s projects, include vehicle registration fees and roadway fines, he said.
“We’re trying to keep ahead of it and work as fast as we can to get this completed and have nice roads,” Hunter said.