Cooke County — The FM 678 and Highway 82 Interchange between Callisburg and Woodbine, which will be funded and built through the Texas Department of Transportation, is on schedule to be let (put out to bid) in August, according to Texas Department of Transportation officials.

“It should let this next month,” said TxDOT Area Engineer Michael Hallum of the Gainesville area office. “We’ve already gotten all the right of ways. We still have to relocate some utilities, but providing the job lets in August, it’s a couple of months before we start construction.”

The project is layed out in the “Plan of Proposed State Highway Improvement” which details the new bridge and roadway approaches, which will be built in phases.

The interchange is being built in response to several accidents and the unsafe situation at the intersection that is jammed with traffic during the school year, especially during school-time traffic hours.

“It will probably be October or November before people actually see us out there, starting construction,” Hallum noted. “From the time we let a project it’s about 60 to 90 days ‘til we would actually start moving dirt.”

TxDOT considered several plans for the intersection and met with the public over the course of 2009 to receive their input. Only two of the plans could meet the budget restraints for the project, which is estimated to cost approximately $4,418,000.

The shifted alignment option, also known as the Highway 82 Overpass and the FM 678 Underpass, was decided on, which means the bridge will be constructed to the west of FM 678 and when completed, traffic will drive over Highway 82. On-ramps and off-ramps will connect to the bridge on the north side and south side of FM 678 so traffic going in the direction of Callisburg or Woodbine will need to travel over the bridge.

The traffic on Highway 82 will continue to travel straight, going both east and west on the underpass section of the interchange.

With the shifted alignment option, TxDOT forecasts the construction phase should not interfere much with traffic flow on Highway 82, to the extent it would with the other plan options. One traffic estimate shows that approximately 18,000 cars travel on Highway 82 each day. The shifted alignment option should also mean the area will be a safer construction zone.

Hallum said the interchange could possibly be completed by the spring of 2012.

“We’re probably looking at a year-and-a-half of construction,” he noted. “We try to set a fairly conservative timeline. We allow for a lot of rain, so if we have abnormally dry weather we could get done a lot quicker than that.”

There are a number of TxDOT projects at various phases on the timeline in Cooke County for 2010. Some projects have already been completed and some are in process with active maintenance and construction. Some of the projects have been put out to bid but are not yet under active construction and other projects are in preparation to be put out to bid.

Projects already completed in 2010:

• Replace bridge and approaches on FM 51 (California Street) at Pecan Creek. Cost estimate is $1,009,655.

• Add shoulders on FM 3496 from FM 902 to FM 372. Cost estimate is $1,033.965.

• Seal coat on FM 51 from FM 922 to Denton County line.

• Seal coat on FM 902 from FM 3496 to Grayson County line.

• Landscape on US Highway 82 in Muenster from FM 373 to 0.5 miles east of FM 373. Cost estimate is $53,610.

Projects that are in process with active construction or maintenance:

• Widen road and extend structures on FM 922 from FM 51 to FM 1307. Cost estimate is $6,295,376.

• Rehabilitate bridge and approaches on FM 922 at William Creek. Cost estimate is $870,379.

• Add shoulders on FM 2071 from FM 372 to FM 922. Cost estimate is $2,108,364.

• Rehabilitate bridge and approaches on FM 51 at Flat Creek. Cost estimate is $1,811,829.

• Replace bridge and approaches on Broadway Street at Pecan Creek.

• Provide additional paved width on FM 1630 from FM 3108 to FM 51. Cost estimate is $908, 297.

• Heavy hot mix overlay on I-35 from near Red River to near US Highway 82 (NBL). Cost estimate is $1,103,629.

Projects that have been put out to bid but are not yet under active construction or maintenance include:

• Provide additional paved lane width on 3164 from FM 678 to FM 902. Cost estimate is $3,451,500.

• HMAC (hot mix asphaltic concrete) overlay on US Highway 82 from near east CL of Muenster to FM 2739. Cost estimate is $809,434.

• HMAC overlay on US Highway 82 from near Muenster CL to Ash Street. Cost estimate is $54,622.

• HMAC overlay on US Highway 82 from east of Hospital Drive to near I-35. Cost estimate $68,391.

• HMAC overlay on I-35 - west service road from FM 372 entrance to exit ramp. Cost estimate $85,666.

• Landscaping on FM 922 in Valley View from FM 1307 to 0.1 mile east of FM 1307. Cost estimate $60,000.

Projects that are in preparation and will eventually go to bid include:

• Add shoulders on FM 1201 from FM 1200 to south end of Moss Lake. Cost estimate is $1,793,600.

•Seal coat on FM 3002 from I-35 to FM 372. Cost estimate is $175,285.

• Seal coat on FM 373 from FM 1630 to FM 922. Cost estimate is $109,550.

• Seal coat on FM 2896 from FM 371 to FM 678. Cost estimate is $164,800.

• Seal coat on FM 678 from US 82 to FM 2896. Cost estimate is $95,851.

TxDOT projects scheduled for 2011 in Cooke County:

• Landscape on US Highway 82 in Lindsay, 1.357 miles west 0.857 miles west of FM 1199. Cost estimate is $60,000.

• HMAC overlay on US Highway 82 from FM 2379 to FM 1198. Cost estimate is $1,526,437.

•Seal coat on FM 371 from FM 2383 to US Highway 82. Cost estimate is $243,600.

• Seal coat on FM 1630 from FM 1199 to FM 51. Cost estimate is $406,000.

Cooke County is included in the TxDOT Wichita Falls District and the Gainesville area office is responsible for Cooke County, Montague County and the lower third of Clay County.

“The big cities we work with are Gainesville, Bowie, Muenster, Saint Jo,” Hallum said, “then also the smaller towns.”

TxDOT projects usually fall into the maintenance or construction categories.

TxDOT is responsible for maintaining the farm to market roads, state highways, U.S. highways and interstates and the Gainesville area office has three maintenance sections with equipment located in Gainesville, Nocona and Bowie.

TxDOT construction projects include building new infrastructure and bridges, overlays and widening roadways.

Hallum noted that TxDOT is experiencing the same economic challenges that other entities and agencies are facing right now — a very tight and challenging budget.

But, Hallum said, they are working to stretch the budget dollars as far as possible.

“Hopefully the public will understand we’re doing a lot more with less,” he said.