CEI Celebrates A Fast-Tracked Arterial For Haslet

Freese and Nichols’ Construction Engineering and Inspection (CEI) team participated in the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for the new “L” arterial from Interstate 35W to  Intermodal Parkway and Transport Drive. The project is a new four-lane arterial that provides connectivity to the Haslet community and the I-35W corridor.

As part of the 8-mile Avondale Freeway Reconstruction program scheduled for completion in 2025, the City of Haslet wanted to accelerate the “L” project for the safety of the traveling public as they had been using Harmon Road, a two-lane road that was in poor condition and deteriorating. The “L” is intended to provide a better and safer route for the community.

The challenge was that the original contract dictated a multiphase construction and opening schedule that would not accommodate effort from the overall program to be refocused on the “L” project.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), Zachry Construction Corporation and Freese and Nichols partnered to come up with an unconventional approach and revised the phasing of the overall program and time constraints. This took a collaborative effort for the “L” project to open on an accelerated two-year schedule:

  • Perform a constructability review
  • Review the schedule changes
  • Provide timely responses to submittals to mitigate potential delays
  • Verify that the contractor had the materials needed
  • Confirm that this was a single project and could function as a stand-alone project
  • Inform TxDOT of the changes to relay to the public
  • Hold regularly scheduled progress meetings to track progress to keep on schedule/ahead of schedule
  • Continue coordination with adjacent projects/developments

Avondale “L” is a great benefit to the traveling public as it increased safety and decreased traveling time. With several warehouses located in the area, the “L” provides direct access for all large hauling trucks. Concurrently, the “L” offers direct access to and from the Haslet community where new residential development is being built.