County transportation official previews overlay projects, cable barriers and a perimeter trail grant

A district transportation official briefed the Scurry County Commissioners Court on several road and safety projects across the county and district. The official said the Avenue E overpass work is progressing with a target of completion by Christmas, although that timeline is “ambitious.”

Upcoming pavement work includes stone-matrix asphalt overlays on State Highway 84 that likely will wait until warmer conditions next spring. The district is installing cable barriers across a county corridor to improve roadside safety and has trained city and county staff and first responders through a manufacturer safety briefing.

Officials pointed to heavy truck traffic — notably belly-dump trucks serving a nearby calcium plant — and a wet spring as the primary causes of recent pavement deterioration. They noted road-use agreements exist with firms that haul heavy equipment and said such agreements have been used previously to recover some repair costs (for example, during wind-turbine and solar-farm installations).

The official also described a grant-funded perimeter trail project that would use millings from local paving projects to build a roughly 12-foot-wide recreation trail. The recreational-trails grant expires next June, and staff said they plan to use locally generated milling materials to minimize hauling costs.

Commissioners asked staff to coordinate where millings and wrap will be stored locally and to continue monitoring contractor scheduling and road-use agreements with heavy haulers.