Tuesday, October 15, 2024
At a regular meeting on Tuesday, Gatesville City Council approved closing a portion of Shady Lane between Bridge Street and Wren Circle, an area that was damaged during severe weather events in the spring.
The closure is due to traffic safety concerns and to allow public works crews to repair a bridge and adjacent water and sewer lines. It will affect local traffic by causing an approximate half-mile detour or about one minute of extra travel time for drivers wishing to travel from Bridge Street to Wren Circle.
“The bigger concern for us for having to close that section of roadway is because that bridge is there,” City Manager Brad Hunt said. “We call it a bridge, but it is really a large culvert about 10 feet high and 20 something feet wide.”
According to Tuesday’s council agenda, the bridge must close to prevent structural failure. Along with a bridge, the storms in the spring also caused erosion to a nearby water line.
Hunt notes that the six-inch water line has historically been susceptible to failures and has been broken by flood waters at least a dozen times since 2007.
The city does not have a timeline yet for how long the area will be closed, Hunt said. The closed portion is approximately 275 feet long.
The city is also investigating the legal status of the street, which was never designated to city ownership when it was built in 1984, according to the agenda. Although it shows to be a designated street in the Coryell County Central Appraisal District system, legal surveys say otherwise.
However, the easement for the waterline is clear for work to proceed.
“The goal right now is to close the street, make a water line repair first, confirm that it is our legal right to repair the bridge with Earthworks, and then we can reopen the street when that is done,” Hunt said.
Council Member Barbara Burrows asked Hunt how the city plans to close off the street to the public. Hunt responded that crews plan to build low water crossing gates like those they placed on Lovers Lane during its construction.
The cost of the project is approximately $30,000. However, Shady Lane is one of the areas submitted to FEMA for funding, which can possibly offset the costs by 75%. The federal assistance is split 75/25, where FEMA pays 75% of the overall cost, and the city matches 25%.
Residents will be notified before the gates are installed via the city’s social media page.
Alexandra Meelbusch contributed to this report
