By MaryJane Farmer. A pilot car is set to lead drivers through FM 121’s construction zone.
By Mary Jane Farmer for the Van Alstyne News
Somebody or something is coming into Van Alstyne soon. No, it’s not Santa Claus, it’s not a well-known government official or TV star, and it’s certainly not the ghosts of Bonnie & Clyde. Give up? It’s the D.L. Lennon Inc. construction company, which has been working on FM 121 (aka Jefferson Street) for Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), completely resurfacing about 11 miles of this state-owned farm-to-market roadway between State Highway 160 and Main Drive on the west side of the railroad tracks.By May
TxDOT spokesperson Kristen Prater said the project is “slightly ahead of schedule.” D.L. Lennon has until January 2026, but Prater said they expect it will be completed “this coming summer.” She added that “The work is weather dependent and could be delayed.” That has been the only glitch in the work to date, Prater said, when heavy rain kept them from making any progress. The cost of the completed project is $10.77 million.
by Mary Jane Farmer
A contract construction company’s crew holds up a stop sign before drivers can be led through a work zone.
“The contractor plans to perform the milling and paving of the town section, from Main Drive eastward, this summer, in June or July,” Prater said. While this is going on, residents can count on traffic control. During working hours, pilot cars will direct traffic through the work zone. Residents will have access to and from their homes, but may have delays while work is occurring in front of their driveways.”
The work includes more than just resurfacing the road, as FM 121’s pavement is being completely removed and, as TxDOT calls it, redrilled and then repaved. The contractor is also adding one-foot of pavement on each side of the roadway. Prater explained, “A wider roadway provides the advantage of having a safer roadway, giving drivers more room. A wider roadway usually results in less broken pavement edges from vehicles running off the roadway.”
The portion of the roadway that has been being worked on from the beginning (August 2024) has pilot cars leading travelers safely through the work zone, one direction at a time. The contractor will continue to use these. It’s not certain yet if they will add the portable traffic lights to this area as well.
At this time, some of the contractor’s workers are preparing this area for the upcoming development. Most yards in the area now feature a yellow-paint stripe from the roadway to the houses.
By Mary Jane Farmer. Yellow paint lines signify the location of underground gas lines in order to let the road construction crew know where they are, thus not creating a problem.
Prater explained, “The orange flags (and blue, green, yellow and red) are used to mark buried utilities so any contractor doing work in the area can be aware of what utilities are below them and to not damage them while digging. Orange is for communication lines, red is for electric, blue is for water, green for sanitary sewer, and yellow for gas lines.” It is important to the contractor that these are left exactly as they are until the contractor either removes them or the project is complete.
Will this make downtown area harder for shoppers and business owners? Not at all, said Van Alstyne City Manager Lane Jones. While the city has begun its own downtown street-improvements program, Jones explained that the city cannot make any changes to Jefferson St., (FM 121) in the downtown area, it being state-owned property. If they must move infrastructure, they will do that by drilling underneath Jefferson St. And those who want or need to go into a downtown business, both parking lots west of the railroad tracks will remain available.