By LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZ
The Zapata Times
The Texas Department of Transportation widening project in San Ygnacio has officially been completed but the road upgrade from south of Tepozan County Road to south of Monterrey Lane scheduled to begin back in February has yet to start.
Despite several delays due to bad weather and construction meetings, the project on FM 3169 in San Ygnacio has recently been striped. The road is already in use; once the construction signs and equipment is removed, the project will be formally complete, TxDOT officials said.
The project called for the widening of the existing roadway from intersection of Highway 83 to two miles north of U.S. 83 on FM 3169 in San Ygnacio for safety reasons.
TxDOT Project Manager Maritza Ramirez said Anderson Columbia Co. plans ? to remove the construction signs by the end of the month pending review by TxDOT.
“We need to do a final punch list and review the work to make sure it’s all ready to be finalized,” Ramirez said.
The other TxDOT project, a 3-mile-long road widening south of Zapata on U.S. 83, had been scheduled to take 11 months. Foremost Paving is the contractor. The project, however, has now been delayed more than three months because of some right-of-way and utility issues. The nearly $7 million project calls for a four-lane rural roadway with a continuous left turn lane.
“We haven’t taken off on the other project,” Ramirez said. “The other project is scheduled to begin sometime in June.”
According to Ramirez, although Foremost Paving has not begun construction, the delays are out of the contractor’s hands and the company is not held accountable.
(Lorraine L. Rodriguez may be contacted at 728-2557)
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