Roadway projects, park restrooms part of City Manager’s update to council

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press

Copperas Cove city manager Ryan Haverlah updated the city council on various city projects during Tuesday evening’s city council meeting.

He said that “not much” work had been done over the past several weeks on Business 190, as the contractor had been trying to mill the eastbound and westbound lanes within the project scope.

However, the eastbound side of the roadway needed to be re-milled because it was not to Texas Department of Transportation specifications.

“(The eastbound side) is not smooth. It is ‘musical,’ if I can use that term. The contractor was able to secure another subcontractor to begin the milling consistent with what TxDOT expects of that roadway,” Haverlah said. The milling work resumed Monday evening, during which two westbound lanes were milled, and the eastbound lanes are also being re-milleddone to comply with TxDOT, he added.

“After that, the overlay will be done, but during the day. Because temperatures have dropped, TxDOT expects that it will be done during the day for that overlay to be applied properly and correctly,” Haverlah said. Usually, repaving like that is done in the evening time period so as not to unduly restrict traffic flow.

The Business 190 median and sidewalk project, which has been going on for just over two years now, will be “essentially done” after the restriping and any punch list items, Haverlah said.

During a prior update, Haverlah had told the council that the cost to redo sections of the median curbing that had to be brought up to TxDOT specifications was borne by TTG Utilities, the contractor working on the project.

Unlike the Business 190 project, another project on two highly-traveled roads in Copperas Cove is moving much more quickly to an early completion.

Haverlah said that the overpass construction at the intersection of F.M. 116 and State Highway 9 had an original estimated completion date of 2024. This project, he said, looks to be “unofficially” done later this year.

One high-profile project – the reconstruction of Constitution Drive – hasn’t even been out for bid successfully at this point.

The City of Copperas Cove had put the project out for bids once before and received no takers. The contractors that had seemed interested, didn’t put in any bids because of the holiday time period and having enough workers to do the project. Haverlah said the plan is to bid it out again in January 2023.

The long, drawn-out restrooms project in City Park looks like it may be at an end.

Haverlah addressed the delay as a “supply issue.”

The CMUs – concrete masonry units – also known as cinderblocks, have been delayed by 2-1/2 months; that is, receiving the right ones, Haverlah told the council. Also, the commodes and urinals have not been received and the contractor has been trying to get them.

“We have the fixtures, but nothing can be installed until the receiver can install them,” Haverlah said, adding that hopefully fairly soon, in about three weeks, that will be done, and hopefully before the end of 2022. “Merry Christmas Copperas Cove,” he said.

Another element of his report was the agreement with Coryell County regarding the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. He said both the county and the city’s liaison, councilmember Fred Chavez, have been working on it.

“In general, it has been drafted and they were working on specifically the development standards. That process is going to take some time to work on. The city’s development standards, compared to the county’s development standards, which are different. Within the ETJ, there is that ‘bleeding from urban to rural,’ and those standards come down to what the city expects and the county will maintain.

“ETJ residents have an urban expectation but the reality is – the county – a rural organization, will be maintaining it. So those need to be balanced out.”