The completion date for road construction on Boca Chica Boulevard from U.S. Expressway 77/83 to Highway 48 or International Boulevard has been pushed back to the end of fall 2021.
Officials said mechanical problems at the asphalt plant that is providing the materials used for the road construction project have delayed the completion date.
The road construction that started in October 2019 included the installation of medians on the boulevard. Officials said the changes should improve traffic flow on one of the city’s busiest boulevards. The $4.7 million project is 1.5 miles. The medians have been placed and all that needs to be done is the complete paving of the road. The project had been expected to be completed by mid fall.
Octavio Saenz, public information officer for the Texas Department of Transportation, said the asphalt used in the project is a “specialty” material known as stone matrix asphalt. This particular asphalt is used in areas with heavy traffic, such as Boca Chica Boulevard.
TxCordia, is the contractor TXDOT hired for the project and it uses an asphalt plant in Donna to produce the material.
“Weather issues delayed some of the production of the asphalt a few weeks ago. And recently, the asphalt plant had mechanical problems,” Saenz said in an email.
Mechanical parts needed to be replaced and the parts are specialty parts and have been ordered from out of state, Saenz said.
As soon as the parts arrive the plant will be fixed and the production of the asphalt will resume.
According to TXDOT, Boca Chica Boulevard is ranked 93rd out of 100 congested roads in the state. The annual hours of delay per mile is 186,259 while the annual congestion cost is $5,531,648.
Saenz said during the start of the project there were some issues with utilities that delayed the project for a few weeks. “We also encountered additional work that was not shown in the plan such as additional drainage inlets, the addition of concrete driveways to meet ADA compliance since we were adding sidewalks throughout the limits of the project.”
Saenz estimates the project will be completed in late fall.
RELATED READING
