Street Markings are a good thing!

Residents have been inquiring about the various colored markings painted on Great Northern, Foster and Shoal Creek. We asked the city what they mean and there response is below. B.T.W., the city has a routine repaving project planned this summer for Great Northern Blvd from White Rock Dr to Foster Ln . It is a simple resurfacing of the existing road and will not widen the road.

From Ron Koehn, Public Works Department City of Austin:

The “One Call” markings are being done to allow survey crews to draw up maps that can be used to develop street and utility reconstruction plans.

The street reconstruction projects were part of the 2006 Bond Package and are intended to repair existing broken gutters, fix broken sidewalks, and level and repave the roadway surface. As part of the project, any utilities that need to be replaced or repaired will be done before the project.

The streets will not be widened.

The specific streets you asked about are part called “Group 12” . As these are just now into the survey phase, it’s likely that construction is 3 to 6 years away ( I’m guessing that the survey will take 3 -6 months, utility and street design another 12 months, contracting and bid 3 months, and construction starting in 2010 – 2012. )

There is no single project manager for street projects in this stage of design. ( There may be one appointed, but this is just in the survey stage.)

The two streets that will be part of the “Group 12” reconstruction are:.

Foster Ln ( Great Northern to Rockwood )
Shoal Creek   Blvd ( Greenlawn Pwky to North Park)

The section of Shoal   Creek Blvd (Greenlawn Pkwy to Anderson ) that was resurfaced in June 2007 is not part of the reconstruction program. I’m guessing that any “One Call” markings there were just to verify connecting utilities.

Ron Koehn
Pavement Operations Engineer
Street & Bridge Division
Public Works Department City of Austin