Repair work on the second half of Lee Street is currently under way. Work crews brought equipment and began preparing the road Tuesday.
The Lee Street project was originally slated last year, but was delayed for several months. One of the streets earmarked for improvements by Texana Land and Asphalt in 2021, the project kept getting pushed back. In November 2022, City Manager Marc Maxwell reported that the contractor had planned to be finished with the project by Thanksgiving Day, but supply chain constraints hampered the project. The project was at that point expected to be completed by Thanksgiving.
The first half of the repair work was delayed until the very end of January 2022, when the asphalt surface was ground off. On Feb. 1 the company anticipated cement stabilizing the road base, then putting a new asphalt driving surface on Lee Street from Broadway to Brinker Street. The first half of the work on Lee Street commenced, and was completed by March.
Further work was halted after Sulphur Springs ISD officials asked the city officials to put the second half of the street repair on hold until after the regular school year concluded so as not to disrupt traffic from buses and parents delivering and picking ups students from the Lee Street side of Sulphur Springs Elementary. The contractor was contracted and put work on hold as requested.
With school ending last week, the contractor had equipment and crews on site Tuesday, where work began to make much needed repairs on the highly traveled street. The eastbound side of Lee Street appeared to have some grating Tuesday in front of SSES just off League Street. Crews were focusing on the Texas Street intersection Wednesday, and had the road will be intermittently closed for a block eastward through the day as work progresses.
Any motorists, pedestrians and cyclists who normally travel along that stretch of roadway are recommended to find an alternate route of travel until the work is complete. Those who cannot avoid the area should expect travel delays and potential detours while crews work on that section of Lee Street. Motorists are reminded to drive with extreme care, watching for workers in the area.
Traffic waits for construction equipment to clear the intersection of Lee Street and Texas Street. The work is part of the Lee Street repair project, budgeted for the summer of 2021, but delayed until this week from League to Brinker Streets.
