07-22-13 Regular Meeting of La Porte City Council

Browse Search

Liabilities of Maintaining the Status Quo: Deferred maintenance adds cost and work hours to future budget years. Operating Costs: No new facilities will be added with this project. Other Considerations: Staff considered and investigated options for constructing a second access to the subdivision as an alternate route during construction. The three locations considered are shown on the attached project map. Location #1 included a drive from the existing stubbed street off of Hackberry to McCabe, Location #2 included a drive from Bayou Drive to McCabe (through the HOA park property and 2 to 3others depending on the alignment, Location #3 included an extension of Fairfield Avenue over the bayou (through Shoreacres right-of-way and Shoreacres-owned parcels) to Oak Leaf Avenue. All three optionswere discarded due to the cost of clearing, grading and drainage work sufficient enough for to provide a gravel road for up to 1850 vehicles per day, and the expense of removing the gravel drive and restoring the project area when complete. The expense and complications involved with obtaining offsite easements were also considerations. During construction, the contractor will remove and replace one lane at a time leaving the other lane open for two-way traffic. Staff considered various alternatives available to best maintain traffic during constructionincluding a second subdivision access (discussed above), temporary pavement, temporary traffic signals, and reconstructing the pavement in very short sections where motorists might negotiation a short one-lane segment of roadway without benefit of flaggers. Staff also sought the opinions of the design consultant and two contractorswho are competent in these types of projects. Considering all options and opinions, flaggers with an off- duty police officer on-site around the clock for the period that the road is down to a single lane was selected as the best and safest course of action. There will be periods outside of the morning and evening rush hours where the concrete truck will set up and pour from the remaining lane of traffic. This will close the road to non- emergency traffic for 15 –20 minutes while the concrete truck empties and moves on. Approximately 40 loads of concrete will be required throughout the project.There may also be short periods when left-turning traffic from northbound Hwy 146 into the subdivision will be prohibited to ease the potential for congestion on Old Hwy 146. The contractor and staff will utilize flyers, roadside electronic message boardsand CTY connect throughout the project to provide the residents with as much information as possible. Staff also plans to hold a public meeting for the residents prior to construction. Residents will have the phone numbers for key city personnel should any concerns or problems arise during construction.