Utility relocations will begin next week in anticipation of the bridge replacement project on Guadalupe Street over Willow Springs Creek. Tree trimming and utility line rerouting are necessary before construction can begin, officials said.
The initial work will take place in the 800 block of South Guadalupe Street and should be completed by early March. Bridge construction will begin following the preparatory work and is scheduled for completion in November.
The Texas Department of Transportation will replace the 78-year old bridge located on Guadalupe Street, a section of Loop 82, in coordination with the city of San Marcos Capital Improvements/Engineering Department.
The project is part of the city’s Victory Gardens Drainage Channel Improvements Program and the city’s Drainage Master Plan.
The $1.13 million TXDOT project will replace the four-lane Willow Springs Creek bridge and reconstruct the approaches to improve safety, mobility and the flow of stormwater in the channel, officials said. The current lane widths have been deemed inadequate for the amount of traffic on the state roadway, a major entryway to San Marcos neighborhoods and downtown.
The new bridge will have four 12-foot-wide travel lanes (two in each direction), two five-foot-wide bicycle lanes (one in each direction), and a five-foot-wide sidewalk on each side of the roadway. Approximately 70 feet of the channel will be excavated to improve stormwater flow.
City and TXDOT engineers met with Victory Gardens neighborhood residents last April to discuss how the project will impact traffic on Guadalupe Street from IH-35 to Roosevelt Street.
The project was designed by Tom Loomis of Loomis Partners, a Bowman Company, and will be built by Capital Excavation Company of Austin.
For more information on the project, call the city’s Engineering/Capital Improvements Department at 393-8130.