The planned upgrades to U.S. 385/College Avenue will start this summer and run through summer of 2025, according to TxDOT officials at an informational meeting held in the Levelland Fire Department training room on Thursday.
Neil Welch, Littlefield area engineer for TxDOT, explained the process to a packed house, including both County Judge Sharla Baldridge and Levelland Mayor Breann Buxkemper as well as other city and county officials and local citizens whose businesses or home might be affected.
The primary questions concerned the time frame, extent of the work, safety and convenience. Welch started by laying out the time frame.
“The contractor (Dunnick Construction) is planning to move in around June 17,” said Welch.
The official start date, he added is July 3, but he said the contractor expects to be able to start before that.
The work will go in four sections, starting with north U.S. 385 from where the last project left off to TX 114. The second phase will run from TX 114 to Houston Street. Phase three will go from Houston to 13th street. Phase four will go from 13th to Avenue H.
“The total work time is 257 days,” said Welch, adding that about 127 days of that are time sensitive depending on weather conditions.
“For instance, hot mix is time and weather sensitive,” he said.
The project is expected to be finished sometime in June or July of 2025.
In addition, they plan to tear out and replace the medians on College Avenue during the work in that area.
“We weren’t satisfied with that contractor,” he said, speaking on the project to replace the medians.
“We have a good contractor now,” he added.
When asked about traffic patterns and speed limits, Welch said that speed studies had already shown people slowing down on the north side of the project. In addition, Welch talked about the projected traffic flow once the project got into the second and later phases.
“Traffic will fluctuate,” he said, explaining that people will tend to find other routes, then come back when those routes become more congested than the route through the project.
One concern about traffic flow is driveways. Several community members and business owners were on hand to question how the project will affect their driveways.
Welch said that the contractor and TxDOT will work to keep driveways opened. As he explained the process used to keep the driveway open while milling and replacing roadways, he added that driveways would only be closed for around an hour during the time that section was to be finished.
“We’ll contact the business before we do that,” he added.
TxDOT will have representatives on site or available by phone during the project in order to liason between local citizens and contractors. Adrian Mendoza will be overseeing the project from the Levelland office and can be contacted at 806-894-4323.
The final question on convenience had to do with delivery trucks.
“They should be able to get through,” Welch said. “It may be a little more difficult for some of the larger trucks, but they will be able to get in.”
Mayor Buxkemper and others had questions about draining, especially on north College up to Ellis Street.
“That’s going to be a maintenance issue,” said Welch, adding that changing the drainage was not in the scope of the project. The problem lies in geography. In places the neighborhood can drop as much as three feet.
“We fight geography all the time,” Welch said, “ and we usually lose.”
In the case of north College, the best solution, according to Welch, would be a storm drain, but he added that the cost of that project would be prohibitive in an area that doesn’t receive a lot of rain often.
“We want to do a good job,” Welch said, adding, “We don’t want to have to come back for 30 years.”