National Work Zone Awareness Week

It happens all too often. Each year, motorists and highway construction crews lose their lives or are injured in work zone related wrecks.

In 2010, there were 100 fatalities in Texas work zones.

Two of those were in the Beaumont District. The good news is the numbers are dropping. In 2008, 165 people lost their lives in Texas work zones. In 2009, that number dropped to 108. While less people are killed in work zone wrecks, it's still too many.

Next week kicks off National Work Zone Awareness Week. April 23-27 focuses on driving safely through work zones. The goal is to bring awareness to the fact that driving through a highway construction zone means paying attention to workers, equipment and stopped vehicles.

The video above, put together by several highway construction and safety groups, starts off with a clip showing what can happen in a work zone.

Safe Driving, Marc S.

Prepping the Neches

TxDOT is about to kick off one of the Beaumont District's most talked about projects.

Later this fall, workers will get down to replacing the I-10 Neches River Bridge (Purple Heart Memorial) in Beaumont. The project includes replacing the entire bridge with a new one much like the Trinity River Bridge on I-10 in Chambers County.

But before any major work begins, crews must make sure the current bridge's riding surface can take the brunt of more than 70,000 cars and trucks traveling the bridge every single day.  TxDOT bridge inspectors spent Wednesday checking out locations where any potholes could occur during the project. That's important because half of the bridge will handle all east and westbound traffic while workers remove the other half. The last thing TxDOT, the contractor and you, the motorist, want is a pothole on the bridge. That means really long delays while workers make repairs.

Making sure the riding surface is smooth and free from any potential problems means a quick and relatively hassle-free commute during the project.

As for the project itself, workers don't expect to tackle the bridge until later this fall. And when work gets underway, there will still be two lanes of traffic eastbound and two lanes of traffic westbound.

Safe driving,
Marc S.

SH 82 project enters new phase

Project contractors are about to begin an important phase in the effort to rebuild SH 82.

Workers are preparing to rebuild the Alligator Bayou bridge just south of SH 73. The work means some important changes for motorists. Beginning in mid-April, workers will begin switching traffic on the bridge to allow sections to be rebuilt. Traffic will be reduced to one lane north and one lane south for approximately five months.

“This is a structure that must be replaced”, said Chris Caron, Beaumont Area Engineer. “It’s all about safety.”

This means morning and evening rush-hour traffic will be impacted. The Alligator Bayou bridge is a timber and concrete structure; the bridge deck is concrete while the piling is made of timber. Heavy traffic combined with age means a complete replacement.

Meanwhile, contract highway crews have removed the curbed median and are resurfacing the road with asphalt. Once resurfaced, workers will begin replacing the bridge. The bridge phase of the project will last about five months. When the bridge is completed, workers will put a final riding surface called Stone Matrix Asphalt (SMA) on the entire roadway. After the resurfacing phase is complete, crews will finish the project with new striping.

In the meantime, make sure to check out the slideshow above this posting. It shows some of the resurfacing efforts by APAC-TX, the project contractor.

Marc S.

Safety rest Area opens

TxDOT's newest Safety Rest Areas is now open on I-10 in Chambers County.

Centered around a Texas history theme, the new rest areas give motorists a chance to pull off, take a break and learn a bit of Texas history.  The new centers are a bit different than your average rest stop or picnic area. These are nestled in the woods near some of Chambers County's most historical places. Architects designed each building with a Southeast Texas theme. Incorporated into both the east and westbound centers are interactive displays, playgrounds and sheltered picnic areas.

Now that the new centers are operational, the two small picnic rest areas in Orange County between Vidor and Orange have been closed. 

Marc S

Welcome to a 75 mph Texas

Crossing the Louisiana border into Texas is always a great homecoming to native Texans. Seeing the "Welcome to Texas" sign is usually followed by a big sigh of relief. And now, there is a new welcome sign for those traveling the I-10 corridor through Orange and Jefferson Counties.

The department is installing the last of the 75 mph signs on I-10 in both of those counties. All the eastbound lanes have been signed. Now, crews are installing the last of them along the westbound lanes.

The change is part of new legislation mandating TxDOT study all highways signed at 70 mph to see if they can be increased to 75 mph. The next step is to look at non-interstate highways and determine if they are eligible to be raised to a higher speed.

Safe driving!

Marc S..

How "Dolphins" protect bridges

Everybody loves dolphins. Our mammal friend is always a hit at the local aquarium. But there's another type of dolphin that protects tens of thousands of drivers traveling across some of Southeast Texas' bridges.

We're not talking about "Flipper". In fact, don't look for any fish-like creature balancing a beach ball and directing you through your next I-10 traffic jam. Instead, these "dolphins" are steel, sand and concrete.

Not sure where the term "dolphin" came from.  "Bumpers" would probably be a more fitting description. But whatever you want to call them, these simple structures go a long way to protect bridges crossing waterways used by ships and barges.

The ingredients are simple: metal sheet piling, some river sand and a bit of concrete. They are formed into large circular posts near the footings of certain bridges and are designed to keep ships and barges from damaging some of the area's most important highway routes.

Southeast Texas is home to three major ports: the ports of Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange. Just about every kind of ship and barge makes its way along the Neches and Sabine Rivers. With at least four major bridges crossing these waterways, TxDOT makes sure to protect those bridges from being hit by "errant" ships and barges.  "Dolphins", placed around the bridge footings, serve as a bumper. After all, it's better to hit one of these sand-filled contraptions than hit one of the most vital parts of the Veterans Memorial, Rainbow, MLK or SH 82 bridge.

Do they work? Absolutely! The district is making repairs to at least two of these devices due to "waterway wrecks". And that's good news not only for shipping, but for motorists.

Marc S.

Is that a car? Or a tin can on wheels....

Some say it looks more like a shoebox with wheels. Whatever it is, the "Peel" does seem to have a bit of "appeel" to it. Yes, bad pun.

The Peel is just one of several ultra-small vehicles making a comeback especially in Europe. These ultra-smalls are nothing new. For years, especially in the 60's, small cars were the norm in European countries. Now, because of extremely high fuel prices, many motorists are once again buying them up. Below is a link with some more photos:

http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/leisure/2012/01/23/worlds-smallest-car-returns/?intcmp=features#slide=1

Don't expect to see them on the streets of Southeast Texas any time soon. But then again, isn't that what they said about the "Smart Car"?

Marc S.