Dateline: December 7, 2006

TxDOT to replace culverts on US 287

CHILDRESS – The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) held a pre-construction meeting on Wednesday, November 29, at the Donley County Maintenance Office near Clarendon to discuss a project to install new safety end treatments (culverts) on US 287 from Hedley to the Armstrong County line. 

The contractor for this $1.1 million project is J. Lee Milligan of Amarillo, TX.  The length of this project is 27.3 miles long with 168 working days scheduled with weather permitting.

The contractor will install safety end treatments along the route –replacing the upright concrete headwalls with sloping headwalls and covering the openings with steel pipe runners that allow water to run freely, but enable a vehicle to cross the opening without plunging into the mouth of the culvert.

“Drivers who run off the road and live to tell the story may owe their lives to safety features like this”, said Tracy Cain, Wellington Area Engineer. “Safety is our primary concern, and this feature will be much safer in run off the road accidents.”

The project superintendent for J. Lee Milligan is Lester Shaver, and Darl Eigenmann is the chief inspector for TxDOT.

There will be no lane closures during the duration of this project. 

“The contractor will need to cone off the shoulders in a few places.  Otherwise this project will not affect the traveling public,” Cain said.