Southbound U.S. 281 bridge to open in ‘early October’
JARED FIELDS • PICAYUNE STAFF
MARBLE FALLS — The second U.S. 281 bridge over Lake Marble Falls soon will be open to traffic, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.
When it opens, northbound and southbound traffic will cross the body of water on separate structures.
“TxDOT will be moving traffic over to the new bridge in early October,” said Kelli Reyna, public information officer for TxDOT. “While this switch will take place in the next few weeks, the project is not complete, and we still have work to do.”
An exact date of the traffic switch will be announced when it is known.
Each bridge will have about a six-foot sidewalk. The entire surface of the current bridge in use, which soon will be the northbound-traffic bridge, has been needed for four lanes of traffic. When southbound traffic is moved to the newest structure, the traffic barrier will be moved inward and a pedestrian rail will be placed at the edge of the bridge.
For now, several items remain to be completed on the project. Remaining work includes:
- setting metal traffic and pedestrian rails
- installing crash cushions
- grinding and milling the bridge deck
- paving
- pouring a northbound traffic barrier
- constructing sidewalks, curbs and islands
- building medians and installing pavers
- striping
- installing light poles
- constructing water retention ponds
- painting the bridge superstructure
Crash cushions are buffers placed at the beginning of a guard rail to prevent vehicles from hitting a blunt end, Reyna said.
Water retention ponds will be under the bridges in front of abutments. Water runoff is collected, and “environmentally acceptable water” is distributed into the lake.
jared@thepicayune.com