Plano road construction issues (Tatum, Alma: landscaping, contractor, activity)

[DaveG99]

I drive down Alma every day north of Legacy. They started road construction there a few months ago and they pretty much have everything done. The problem I have is they left the barrels up and the lanes that have been finished for 4-6 weeks are still blocked off. You'd think once they got really close to finishing they would want to get it doen and pull those orange barrels out of there. I wonder why they get a project 95% complete and then just let it sit for months.

[DaveG99]

Foudn this on the plano web site.

ALMA DRIVE WIDENING – SPICEWOOD DRIVE TO TATUM DRIVE – Project includes widening from 4 to 6 lanes. The inside lanes of north and south bound Alma Drive will be closed periodically for construction activity between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm. Monday through Saturday. Traffic may want to seek alternate routes. (Lee Stimpson/Walt Elwood)

[DaveG99]

I emailed the city to ask what was goign on and this was the response from the Plano Government....

The City Manager and the City’s Director of Public Works & Engineering forwarded your e-mail to me to provide you with an update on our Alma Drive Widening project. I am the City’s project manager for the project, so feel free to contact me directly if you have any other questions or issues in the future.

Over the past three to five weeks it may have appeared that there was little being done on the project due to the completion of some of the major paving operations, but the contractor was completing the right turn lane, storm drain improvements and sidewalk at the Hedgcoxe Road intersection, the repaving of the Bass Drive intersection, miscellaneous pavement patching on Alma Drive, and trying to track down and repair several disruptions in the street light circuits at the north end of the project.

The weather this week may slow down progress a little, but the contractor should start working on curb and gutter replacement on the southbound lanes and replacement of some new panels northbound that were damaged during a rain storm when they were first poured. There will also be some minimal lane closures as the median landscaping, irrigation systems and street lights are installed to close out the project.
Again don’t hesitate to call or e-mail me if you have any questions as we complete this project.

Lee Stimpson, P.E.
Senior Engineer
Engineering Department
City of Plano
P.O. Box 860358
Plano, TX 75086-0358
972-941-7152
lees@plano.gov