Current status of the road bond projects

As promised, after getting that "much needed sleep" I referred to this morning (or at least enough sleep for a three-quarters-of-a-century-old homo sapien), I will now return to last night’s city council meeting during which City Engineer Leon Barba presented the following update on the five road bond projects:

Marketplace: Compete as of last week.

Goforth from I-35 to Bunton Creek Road, 1.18 miles: "Work began on that project March 21 of this year. This is a 13-month contract so theoretically we should wrap this contract up in April 2017. As of Sept. 1 the project was at 36 percent complete and 34 percent of time used. Currently the contractor is working from Bunton Creek to Steeplechase and we expect that to be open by Oct. 7, weather permitting. We’re still working through some utility problems we have out there." Barba added the city will be erecting additional signage to help motorists navigate around the construction and to make it easier to access the businesses located along Goforth.

Goforth Road Extension, Bunton Creek Road to Kyle Parkway, .2 of a mile: "The contractor still plans to start in late October on that project so there’s no delay in starting that project."

Bunton Creek Road: "Council awarded that $4.6 million contract on Aug. 2. We’re going to start it on Nov. 4. The contractor is out there working on some non-critical items just to get started. We’re having utility issues out there and we’re trying to get those resolved."

Burleson Street, from North Street to the I-35 frontage road, 1.32 miles: "Plans been completed since May. We’re working on five parcels we’re trying to acquire. One of those is very difficult. The lending institution is requiring a lot of things, including a survey of the whole property rather than just the little piece that we need. One owner has been non-responsive, but we continue to reach out. We weren’t able to agree on a price with another owner, so we’re going to have to find another alternative solution, some of which may include not completing portions of the project. We’re still trying to finish our negotiations to get the railroad to build that section of track we need at Burleson Street. Based on that, we’re thinking our date to start that project is going to slip. Initially, we were looking at November of this year. We’re thinking at best we’re going to have to start that project in March 2017."