Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 (Agenda)
Item 1
Item no.
1.
receive comments regarding a request to close old lockhart highway between bradshaw road and capitol view drive for culvert capital view drive for a culvert improvements beginning -- November 14, 2011 through January 13, 2012 or until construction is completed in precinct 4.
>> move that the public hearing be opened.
>> second.
>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, this is steve manila from t.n.r.
to answer questions that you may have about the proposed road closure, we are asking to close a segment of old lockhart highway to replace two very old culverts that go back to the 1920s.
one of them in particular has lost most of its concrete cover, at least a portion of it, it just really needs to be replaced.
we have received comments from folks calling in, you know, wondering how long or why it takes so long to do this.
and at least one person has suggested can we just do one now and another one later so that the closure doesn't have to go so long.
regarding that suggestion, though, I -- my preference is to do them both at the same time.
they are both the same age.
even though one shows its age more than the other, they are both, I feel, of the same -- same hazard.
so I would like to get them replaced.
with that, if you have questions about why it's taking so long, staff is here to answer those.
>> what is the answer to that good question?
>> steve, if you don't mind.
>> I'm steve shiwi, we have two culverts that are about a thousand feet apart, three driveways in between those culverts.
in order to replace it, you have to delish the one completely, replace it, and restore it to at least the local traffic and then go to the second one.
we were looking at approximately four weeks apiece.
we can overlap some of the construction work, but the fact that we can't demolish both of them at the same time, plus the resources, personnel that we have available to us, we're going to use as many as we can.
but it's -- but it's something that just takes some amount of time, since we have to do one and then the other.
that -- that's the short answer.
>> we've had a chance to address the concerns of -- of impacted residents that contacted us?
>> we've -- I have personally spoken to at least one and I understand that others have called in and spoken with other folks with t.n.r.
it really comes down to -- to it is a pretty extensive detour, eight and a half miles that we're asking them to put up with for up to eight weeks.
we think it's the best way to go.
an alternative would be to build a detour road around each site.
that would add, I think, a minimum of $100,000 to the project, plus add time to it because we would have to -- to get that designed and permitted.
right now we're staying within -- within our right-of-way and we can -- we're designing, going to do it with in-house staff.
so I think that's the most economical way and the most expeditious way to get that done.
>> detour is how long now.
>> eight and a half miles.
>> this is a public hearing on item no.
1.
if you would like to give comments, please come forward.
give us your name, we would be happy to give your comments.
-- to get your comments.
either chair is fine, we have a microphone for each chair, so make yourself at home.
>> thank you.
my name is rick yager, I'm president of Texas fluorescent laboratories at the end of capital view drive.
we have seven employees, six of them would be affected by this.
looks like if we are talking about a eight week delay, 4,000 miles of detours, hundreds of hours in extra time getting there.
anything that you can do to accelerate that schedule would be appreciated.
>> we should try to do that.
>> we will, judge.
we think after we get through one replacement through learning and the second replacement should not take as long, but I don't want to guarantee that at this time.
>> okay.
do you know who at the transportation department to contact if you have questions?
that's steve manila at the end there he's a lot more powerful than he looks
>> [laughter]
>> I'm rebecca fontaine, I reside on capital view drive, which is going to be the end point for the torn up road.
I received a voice mail from david grier, transportation engineer, david, thank you for getting back with me.
I have about 4 questions.
I would like them answered, please.
number 1, given that there are two -- you just said 1920s era drainage culverts, that run underneath old lockhart road, given the drought conditions we've had for the last two years, I'm wondering why now to replace those culverts.
even in "flood times" weaver never had water over the road on old lockhart road.
>> I can answer that.
essentially it's because of the condition of the culverts.
the capacity of them, although they have silted up over the years, the capacity seems adequate to -- to pass the amount of water.
it's the structural condition that -- the condition of the concrete and the steel and looking more from the standpoint of the traffic on top of them, more so than the need for additional water capacity through them.
>> I want to add, also, that -- that during a drought it's probably the best time to replace the drainage culvert.
>> probably so.
given that old lockhart road has been -- I don't know the correct term, black topped, reblack topped two times in the last -- as I said, I've been there eight years, so at least two times in that time, the road of course still cracks, goes up and down.
I'm really questioning efficacy of again the replacement of just those two points on the road.
so again that's not an open-ended question.
next thing is, and david you told me this, you said I was concerned when the signs went up telling us about the public hearing.
you said there -- old lockhart road would be open to through traffic, local.
now, given that it's about -- about -- let me see the map.
it's about -- it's about a mile and a half between bradshaw and capital view -- probably less than a mile.
>> what's going to be shut down.
those of us -- I have got my google maps here.
>> it's going to be strictly between the two culverts.
so you'll be able to get lo capital view from the east, really at all times.
the local traffic is -- is I guess the three driveways in between because if we -- if we were to demolish both of them at the same time then the people in between would not be able to get to their properties.
>> I didn't know if you had set up a traffic counter or not.
you're aware that from about 5:30 in the morning on, there is a lot of through traffic down old lockhart road.
we've got two school buses that come down capital view.
at 7:30 in the morning and at 8:05.
what are we looking at in terms of delays?
>> well, as far as -- as far as through traffic, what we do is when we set the detour, we start detouring them down bradshaw and over to 1327.
so the actual closure to through traffic starts at that point.
now, if you live on that road, you can still get down to where you live.
but you just can't get all the way through.
that's the only difference really.
so we start putting barricades up at bradshaw and at capital view to let people know hey you can't go all the way through.
that's where we're actually calling it a closure, but the actual closure you can't get through is at the culvert that we're replacing.
what we do then is we contact the school district, we have talked with the school district and busing officials, and we will -- they will have to reroute the buses to get over to that point because they can't come all the way through.
they are aware of that and they are working with us on that.
same thing with emergency service districts, even the trash pickup and things like that are all aware of it now.
and know that they will have to detour around if they want to get all the way through.
>> so coming from the east, they're going to come -- 1327, karl road, they'll have to stop there at capital view, everything is cut off between capital view and bradshaw, if they are coming from -- from the west, heading east, they can't get any further than bradshaw.
>> well, they can get past bradshaw if there's anything they need in between bradshaw and the culvert crossing that we're replacing.
that will be the local traffic we're referring to.
>> and you have contacted the school district.
>> yes, we have.
we've -- actually I have talked --
>> iesi, the trash pickup and everything.
>> yes.
>> okay.
so we're looking at two months.
yes, up until January 13th, we hope to get it sooner, but we just don't know at this point.
we're trying to get it as soon as we can.
>> to recap it's absolutely necessary to replace the culverts because of the loss of concrete and steel in the culverts themselves.
now he is the best time to do -- now is the best time to do it during drought conditions because we don't have water running through there.
if anyone lives locally in those three driveways between bradshaw and capitol view, they will be able to get through.
the rest of us of will have turn and head east, those of us on capitol view.
those from bradshaw on, of course, will be heading west.
>> correct.
>> all right.
I think that answers my questions.
thank you for your time.
>> so am I correct that the loss of concrete and steel leaves that culvert unsafe?
>> I would say yes, judge.
in particular with the school buses on it and I've heard of truck traffic as well, it really does need to be taken care of.
>> okay.
so do we need to give you all an opportunity to check with staff in an adjacent room?
I don't know that the answers will be different.
anybody else for this public hearing?
>> move that the public hearing be closed.
>> second.
>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote, this is action item no.
22.
>> there was one more woman who wanted to make comments.
>> one more person, item no.
1.
>> > yes.
>> please come forward.
anybody else, three chairs, three speakers can come forth at this time.
we didn't vote on that motion, did we, motion to close.
>> motion to reopen.
>> second.
>> second.
>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
we close but we reopen just for you.
>> wendy torres, I live on capitol view.
I'm just curious, I understand that you have to change it, it's a real pain to driveway around.
that road is like this, campeche, somebody fixed it once or twice, it lasted pretty well.
if you're going to close it, could you maybe smooth the road out a little bit?
while you are doing that?
I don't know if that's part of your budget.
>>
>> [indiscernible] in the audience I think from our road and bridge division.
we could talk to him about that.
>> don ward, director of road maintenance.
we have repaired this roadway on numerous occasions and unfortunately the geology and a lot of the other portions of the -- of Travis County in that area have suffered the same.
and we'll continue to maintain it.
we're doing our best.
unfortunately the drought conditions have really caused a lot of -- of problems but we -- but we -- you know, if you have issues that you -- that you see are unsafe, please call us, we'll prepare a work order and go out there to prepare, you know, trying to repair it as possible.
>> we can fix it right there at that area.
>> yes.
>> okay.
>> last call, anybody else?
>> move that the public hearing be closed.
>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
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