Status update: Leander's 2006 bond election projects

Status update: Leander's 2006 bond election projects

By Kara Vaught Friday, 23 January 2009

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In 2006, Leander voters approved the sale of bonds to finance projects ranging from road improvements to fire department vehicles.

City manager Biff Johnson presented the mayor and council with a status report on each of the projects Dec. 10.

East Crystal Falls

Improvement to a strip of road less than 3 miles long — but crucial to mobility in Leander — dominated the conversation. In the late ’90s, the widening of East Crystal Falls Parkway from US 183 to Ronald W. Reagan Boulevard was a county road bond project, but it was withdrawn because the plans delivered by the consultant were not usable.

The project was placed before voters and approved in Leander’s November 2006 bond election. City staff began working with a new consultant, but the company had to bow out of the project when it decided to participate in another development. In 2007, the current consultant, Baker-Aicklen & Associates, Inc. came on board to design the improvements.

When plans for the road were 65 percent complete, city staff learned a grant the city had received from the Texas Department of Transportation required an environmental assessment. In an effort to begin work on a portion of the road before the time-consuming assessment was complete, the project was broken into two phases. However, when the plan was presented to TxDOT, the city was told that because the grant language did not include phases, it would require rewriting. Changing the grant language required approval from the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization because the project was included in CAMPO’s Transportation Infrastructure Plan.

An approval from CAMPO allowed the city to move forward with its project, said Wayne Watts, city engineer. He said Baker-Aicklen has advised him it can meet the current schedule, which shows Feb. 19 as the date the contract for the work will be awarded.

Phase 1 encompasses East Crystal Falls Parkway from Toll 183A to Ronald W. Reagan Boulevard. Improvements include constructing a four-lane divided roadway with the associated signs, signals and drainage. Phase 2 will extend the improvements from Toll 183A to US 183.

Construction of each phase is estimated to be complete by 270 days after the contract for each phase is approved.

“Hopefully [Phase 1] will be a Christmas present for Leander in 2009,” Watts said.

The budget for the entire project is $8,541,576.

Bagdad Road, Old FM 2243

Less snake-bit is the project to widen the road adjacent to the intersection of Bagdad Road and Old FM 2243.

North of the intersection, Bagdad will become five lanes with a dedicated center left-turn lane, as will both east- and westbound Old FM 2243.

During construction, traffic will be diverted away from Bagdad north of the intersection. To travel from north of the intersection, signs will direct drivers to take Halsey Drive east to San Gabriel Parkway, turning south on US 183 and west on Old FM 2243. From the south, traffic will go east on Old FM 2243, north on US 183, west on San Gabriel and south on Halsey.

Construction is scheduled to begin in late February with completion in August. The budget is $2,013,372.

Sonny Drive extension

The owners of Cedar Park’s Comfort Inn eagerly await the extension of Sonny Drive between US 183 and Leander Drive. Jerry Anderson and Sharon Eriksson plan to put a Holiday Inn Express at the southwest corner of the future intersection of Leander and Sonny.

“We would put the shovel in the dirt tomorrow if we knew for sure the road would be done in 2009,” Anderson said.

The road extension hinges on Capital Metro’s commuter rail line, which Sonny would intersect. Once the road consultant receives final design and record drawings from Capital Metro, the intersection can be designed. Pending the receipt of that information, construction of the Sonny extension is projected to begin in May or June and be completed by the end of 2009.

The budget is $1,016,853.

Bagdad Road sidewalks

KSA Engineers, Inc. is designing an 8-foot-wide concrete sidewalk for the west side of Bagdad Road from Crystal Falls Parkway to Leander High School. The route is considered the first phase of a sidewalk project that eventually will stretch from Eagles Way to LHS on the west side of Bagdad and from Crystal Falls Parkway to Kettering Drive on the east side.

The plans are under review by TxDOT, which is providing $430,134 — 80 percent — of the project’s total budget. The city is putting up $92,774.

Michael T. Pimentel, senior project manager, said it is unknown how long TxDOT will take to review the plans. Once approved, construction is projected to take 240 days.