July 3rd, 2014
City to shut down heavily traveled Sessom Drive for more than a month

FROM STAFF AND SUBMITTED REPORTS

Sessom Drive between Loquat Street and North LBJ Drive — a ⅓-mile segment used by nearly 10,000 vehicles each weekday — will be closed to traffic for five weeks or more starting Wednesday, July 9.

The closure is part of a $6.5 million capital improvement project that involves replacing storm sewer, water and wastewater main lines and then reconstructing North LBJ Drive from Sessom to Holland Street. Workers will rush to reopen Sessom by Aug. 15, less than two weeks before the fall semester begins at Texas State University, project manager Shaun Condor said.

“We are making extra efforts to finish and open this important intersection as soon as possible,” he said.

Trying to speed up work on a project that is already months behind schedule, the San Marcos City Council on June 3 approved the Sessom Drive closure.

The winding major thoroughfare skirts the northern boundary of the university campus and is a major entry point for students and staff. In 2013, 9,600 vehicle trips were counted during a 24-hour weekday period on Sessom at Comanche Street and 12,600 were counted at the Sessom-North LBJ intersection, according to a traffic study conducted by the city’s transportation department.

The North LBJ Reconstruction Project, which also includes the addition of sidewalks on both sides of the street, is scheduled be completed in summer 2015, about six months behind schedule. The project was originally intended to be completed next spring, according to the timeline announced when work began. Austin-based Capital Excavation Co. is the construction contractor.

During the Sessom closure, westbound traffic will be detoured up North LBJ to Holland Street and then to Academy Street. Eastbound traffic will be detoured on Academy to Holland, then to Chestnut Street. North LBJ Drive has been reduced to one-way traffic since October with southbound traffic rerouted to Chestnut Street.

The Texas State University entrance at North LBJ will be closed at the same time. University traffic will be routed to Comanche on the west side of campus and Pleasant on the east side. The traffic signal at Peques and State Street has been temporarily programmed to allow a dedicated left turn onto State Street.

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CORRECTION: The traffic counts cited in this article were conducted in 2013, not 2012.

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