Published: May 16, 2008 10:09 am            

Widening of Hwy. 198 under way

The road men were working their way through lunch at the Fishin’ Hole last week, trying to explain to a highway civilian why it takes so long to build a road.

Two were with TxDOT, the other with a highway construction firm.

All are involved in the project to turn State Highway 198 into a five-lane road from downtown Mabank to U.S. 175 .

• Distance: 1 mile

• Cost: $7 million

• Time to Complete: 2 years.

Seriously gentlemen, how come it costs so much to build a mile of road, and how come it takes so long?

Project Manager Gary Whitten of TxDOT is on hand. Sitting opposite him is Project Superintendent, Stan Doze, who at 61, is making this his last road project before retiring.

He works for Texas Sterling, which is the general contractor for this project.

The other TxDOT employee is Tech 1 Inspector, Josh Vasquez.

He says little, but eats with conviction.

All three know they’re about to “ugly up” downtown Mabank for the next two years. But they know it’s for a good cause — streamlining traffic.

Doze promises they’ll do everything possible to be as unobtrusive as possible. Driveways and entrances to downtown businesses will be respected. At least one lane of traffic will remain open at all times. So grumbling should be kept to a respectable roar.

These guys have been through this many times before. Road construction isn’t the best way to build friends and influence people — at least not until the project is completed, which usually takes years.

“They’re just going to have to be patient with us,” Doze said, while explaining details of the project.

Doze was asked why they couldn’t just slap down some pavement and be done with it? He did better than offer an explanation.

He took a reporter and photographer to the end of the project at 198 and U.S. 175. A working crew, which could barely be seen from the street above, was busy working with huge 48-inch re-enforced concrete drainage pipes.

A man by the name of Francisco Lopez is crouched in the middle of the large drain pipes at the bottom of a large ditch.

The first thing you notice is that he’s not using heavy equipment to dig a hole underneath the street.

He’s using a shovel.

That’s right. Just like the one you use in your garden. That’s 90 feet of digging in all — just to make a hole big enough to put this giant pipe under the street. This will allow water to run down a ditch beside U.S. 175. The idea is to take the water away from the soon to be built improvements on SH 198.

Again, we’re talking a $7 million highway project that is in a very important way, dependent on Lopez digging a hole under 198 with his shovel so water can run down the side of U.S. 175.

From there, the water will run for a mile and a half until it reaches a creek near the Mabank ISD bus barn, just south of U.S. 175.

It’ll take more than one such pipe to get this job done.

It’ll take 13.

“We’ve got to keep the water off the new street,” Doze said.

Remember, they’ve done nothing yet to the old 198 running through Mabank, even though this project began on April 21.

All of this work is to direct water away from the new planned highway construction that will take place later this year.

By now you should be wondering how a guy with a shovel digs out a hole big enough for 13 of these huge, 48-inch reinforced concrete pipes.

He has to stuff these pipes side-by-side until they interlock, and go from one end of the street to the other.

How is this done? Think “The Great Escape.”

Lopez is tunneling, digging a large round hole, and then carrying the dirt out in a cart. The big-round pipe is then placed at the edge of the newly created orifice, and the huge jack bore with it’s long prongs, literally pushes the pipe into the small area. It only happens a few inches at a time.

Gradually, between Lopez’ efforts, and the jack bore, the pipes move forward into the freshly dug cavity, a few inches at a time.

If the holes being dug by Lopez are too large, the dirt will cave in, frustrating his efforts. So progress is slow.

When it’s all inside, they bring on another piece of the pipe, and start the same process all over again.

Why not use modern ditch-digger equipment? “This is too small a space,” says Doze. “It wouldn’t be practical.”

Fresh ditches are dug on both sides and the water is suddenly free to flow all the way to the creek.

Meanwhile, cars are driving back and forth, pretty much unaware of what’s going on underneath them.

This is just the beginning of several excavation jobs awaiting the work crews. These guys will be doing drainage work for the next three months before they even start on the actual road.

Even then, they’ll have to build a temporary road to divert traffic while they’re tearing out the old and bringing in the new. But even this two-year project could be delayed if the the builders run into surprises along the way.

“Sometimes we run into things our forefathers left behind that we don’t know about,” said Doze.

Some of those things could be water lines dating back to the 40s, or earlier, things done prior to World War II.

“I just hope we find it before we cut into it,” Doze said.

They already know there once was a home dating back to the 40s right on this pathway.

“Building a road in town is a lot more difficult because there are more utilities,” Doze said.

“They have to have the drainage to get rid of the rainwater.”

On completion, there will be two lanes of traffic going each way with a turning lane in the middle. In other words, it’ll be the same type concrete residents in Gun Barrel City are driving on now.

There will also be five-foot sidewalks along each side of the highway.

Meanwhile Whitten’s and Vasquez’ jobs will be to inspect the work throughout, make sure the job is done right.

“His job is just to get in the way,” joked Doze, talking about Whitten on the other side of the table at the Fishin’ Hole.

Anyway, these are just a few reasons why it takes so long to build a road, and why it’s so expensive, even when you’re digging with a shovel.

Think April, 2010. Possibly May.

        

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