Tuesday, October 1, 1996

Construction projects dot the city

By JERRY DANIEL REED
Senior Staff Writer

Motorists with short tempers from long detours around construction areas should keep in mind that "this too shall pass."

One Abilene road construction project, the Lytle Creek bridge, is about to wind up while three others under way have months to go. Others are in the pipeline.

The projects that still have considerable work left:

-- Judge Ely Boulevard and North 10th on east side of Abilene Christian University campus. Reconstructing about three blocks of Judge Ely, replacing the intersection's asphalt with concrete. Completion due about Dec. 1.

-- North 1st and Cypress downtown, between Pine and Cedar, street surface and sidewalk. Completion due about Feb. 1.

-- Loop 322 between Maple Street and Potosi Road. Completion due early next summer.
The first two are city of Abilene projects, the third a Texas Department of Transportation project. The Lytle bridge is also a DOT project.

Andy Anderson, Abilene city engineer, finds Judge Ely not as bad as some have painted it.
"The engineering traffic department upped signals and timing so that intersection would continue to function, even though we had construction going on right in that intersection," he said.

"And I'm through there about three or four times a week. And while it's causing some delays, it still seems to be working pretty good," he added. The project will add a second traffic lane each way in the three-block span on Judge Ely nearest the intersection. Concrete will replace asphalt in the intersection so it'll stand up better to wear, Anderson said.

Traffic in the Lytle Shores area has been diverted over residential streets while the new bridge has been built, said Thomas Bohuslav, Abilene district director of operations for the transportation department.

That should end by the end of this week or early next week with the completion of the bridge, he said.

But on Loop 322, they're just getting started, so some closed lanes and closed ramps are in the future of motorists driving that section of roadway.

Downtown, the reconstruction of North 1st near Cypress is slowing, but not blocking, traffic.
"We're blocking one lane at a time," said Anderson.

A project that doesn't affect traffic is the extension on Rolling Green Drive in southwest Abilene, between Bruce Drive and Catclaw Drive. Its completion should improve the flow of traffic in that neighborhood.

On the drawing board for the transportation department is the widening of Antilley Road from west of Wylie High School east to Buffalo Gap Road.

Several projects in Taylor County outside Abilene are under way, on U.S. 83-84 south of Abilene and Interstate 20 west of town. The stretch of I-20 near Wells Lane needs "just a little bit of final striping," said Bohuslav.