Killeen City Engineer explains why road projects are taking so long
KILLEEN, Texas (KWTX) - If you live in Killeen, you may have noticed some of the road projects around town appearing to take longer than you would think.
Some of them are in fact taking longer than expected.
Work on Gilmer St. on the north side of town has lasted more than a year because of unexpected delays while digging.
“We really didn’t know what was actually underneath the road,” said Andrew Zagars, Director of Engineering Services, City Of Killeen. “That one, we found water lines that there were no records of that were in the way of construction that we had to deal with, we had to do a change order with the council to install and relace a water line, like I said, we didn’t even know about.”
Clear across town is where you find Stagecoach Rd. near Killeen Police Headquarters.
After the massive freeze that covered most of Texas in 2021, the asphalt on Stagecoach Rd. pretty much crumbled and it was years before they could even begin to repair it.
That’s because of a lawsuit with the contractor.
“I wasn’t involved in a lot of it, but I believed we sued the contractor because it failed, it didn’t last, it didn’t perform like it should have,” said Zagars.
Now when it comes to they work here on Bunny Trail just off Stan Schlueter Loop, the City’s Engineer said it’s supply chain issues causing delays.
“The issue we have mostly is supply,” said Zagars. “Getting supplies, getting material delivered to the site, there’s still a shortage of drivers, there’s issues with supply and demand that we’re still feeling from COVID. That has actually impacted a little of the projects too.”
All the projects are seeing delays because of a shortage of truck drivers.
“For roads, when we get down and have to put lime for instance in the subgrade, that supplier is having a very hard time finding drivers,” said Zagars. “They have a shortage, and we have 3 projects that need that material.”
Some of these projects have taken years to get done but there may be some light at the end of the road.
They hope to have Bunny Trail and Gilmer St. done by the end of the year.
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