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Businesses complain after Bankhead Highway work begins; city says detours, flaggers, weekly meetings will improve coordination
Summary
Businesses along Bankhead Highway complained they were not personally notified before a phase of water/sewer construction began; city staff said notices went out via website and social media, flaggers and detours were in place, and weekly contractor meetings will improve communications.
City staff and the contractor described scope and progress on the Bankhead Highway water and sewer project and answered business and council concerns about communication and traffic. Gretchen Vasquez (city engineer) said the project includes approximately 4,800 linear feet of 8-inch water line and 4,900 linear feet of 10-inch sewer line and that construction began July 21; she told the council notices were posted on the city website and social media and that signs were placed near the project.
Several business owners and the mayor said they received complaints that the road had been closed or detoured without direct phone notice to affected businesses. "When you shut the road down, and the business is there... they were very upset we didn't contact them," Mayor Palmer said. Gretchen and project staff said the road was not intended to be fully closed to access, that flaggers were stationed at work zones, and that the city scheduled a traffic-and-safety coordination meeting with Aledo ISD and neighboring jurisdictions to address school routing and emergency access.
Councilmembers discussed options to keep one lane open and use radio communications between flaggers, but engineers said equipment width, drainage and guardrail constraints make an extended, single-lane solution unsafe or intermittently feasible; upscaling to night work or alternate arrangements would increase costs by an estimated 30–40% and raise neighborhood concerns. Staff said they would hold weekly construction meetings with the contractor to monitor traffic control, address daily flagging needs and improve outreach to businesses and the school district.
Why it matters: The project affects business access and school traffic during the start of the school year; the council pressed staff for clearer, direct communications after complaints and asked staff to coordinate proactively with the school district and contractors.
