Southbound traffic on South Broadway Avenue waits at a red light at the intersection with Grande Boulevard around 5 p.m. Dec 6. The stretch of road between Loop 323 to Toll 49 was named one of the Top 50 Most Congested Roadways in Texas in a recent study by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.

The City of Tyler is prioritizing traffic challenges through an upcoming study for the south portion of the city, which is home to a stretch of road that is one of the top 100 most congested in the state.

The Tyler City Council approved a $493,411 engineering contract on Wednesday with HDR Engineering, Inc. to complete a South Tyler Mobility Study.

Through Travel Demand Modeling technology, the city will get a comprehensive look into transportation connectivity and how network improvements can help accommodate future growth while addressing existing issues.

“South Broadway is our busiest roadway and most congested. It’s 47th on the top 100 in Texas, and much of the area is undeveloped. It will continue to grow,” said City of Tyler Traffic Engineer Cameron Williams. “We want to take a look as a city and be proactive.”

The study will evaluate existing travel behavior patterns on city streets, analyze the new Master Street Plan and make recommendations on prioritizing streets. It will also conduct route alignment evaluations and provide cost estimates.

Further, an analysis of property access connectivity will be carried out along South Broadway Avenue, and city staff will conduct stakeholder engagement with property owners in the undeveloped areas.

“The development of large acreages in the area will require new streets to connect them to the transportation system,” Williams said. “The city needs to take the lead and complete the analysis to accommodate existing and future demands. If not, the area will continue to develop piecemeal, creating more challenges and further traffic congestion in the future.”

The South Tyler Mobility Study includes city streets in the area bounded by Grande Boulevard to the north, FM 2813 to the south, FM 756 to Paluxy Drive to the east, and Hollytree Drive to Cherryhill Drive to the west.

The study should be complete by next spring.

Street reconstruction

Also at this week’s meeting, the city council approved a $4.78 million contract with Reynolds and Kay to revitalize nine severely deteriorated streets.

“The reason we do this is our paving condition gets too low where we cannot salvage it any longer. We cannot do an overlay. We cannot do a seal coat or anything like that,” City Engineer Darrin Jennings said. “We have to replace it.”

The Engineering Department evaluated pavement ratings and performed geotechnical investigations of the streets to determine the roads that require reconstruction.

Many of the streets are located in the southern part of Tyler.

The Street Reconstruction Project includes $4,472,207.85 in funding for 12 lanes miles of street reconstruction, funded by the Half-Cent Sales Tax Program, $38,125 for inlet repairs on Grande Boulevard, funded by the Streets Department curb and gutter budget, and $274,445 for concrete alley repairs, funded from the Alley Improvements budget.

“The street reconstruction project will elevate the quality of life for residents and foster greater economic development opportunities,” Jennings said. “As a crucial component of growth, this project is anticipated to impact the City’s infrastructure significantly.”

The project includes reconstructing the following streets:

• Blue Mountain Boulevard from 2022 construction to Old Jacksonville Highway
• Calloway Road from Old Troup Highway to Lazy Creek Drive
• East Earle Street from East Front Street to Old Henderson Highway
• Golden Road from Troup Highway to Old Troup Highway
• Hollytree Drive from West Grande Boulevard to Woodlands Drive
• Royal Oak Drive from Shady Oaks Drive to Hollytree Drive
• Shady Lane from West Front Street to Southgate Avenue
• Shiloh Road from Paluxy Drive to Rhones Quarter Road
• South Fleishel Avenue from East Fifth Street to Medical Drive

Construction is scheduled to begin in August and conclude by October 2024.

Water treatment upgrades

Also this week, the council voted to approve a $4.5 million contract with Gracon Construction, Inc., to rehabilitate the Golden Road Water Treatment Plant filters 11 through 14 rehabilitation project. The project includes fully rehabilitating the four filters, replacing the underdrain, media and surface wash system and rehabilitating clarifiers 3 and 4.

The filter rehabilitation projects aim to replace the clay underdrains with a high-density polyethylene underdrain system. The clay underdrain systems are no longer manufactured, and replacement parts cannot be obtained.

“The industry standard and manufacturer’s recommendation is to replace filter media every five to seven years,” said Utilities Director Kate Dietz. “However, It has been more than twenty years since the filter media, a mixed media composed of anthracite and sand, has been replaced in eight of the 16 filters. Upgrading the filters and replacing the filter media will improve performance and protect water quality.”

The Golden Road Water Treatment Plant, uses 16 dual-media rapid-sand filters as an essential part of the water treatment process.

Filters one through four were rehabilitated several years ago, and five through eight were rehabilitated in 2021 and 2022. Tyler Water Utilities plans to rehabilitate the remaining eight filters over several years.

Sewer rehab

The Tyler City Council approved a $6.63 million contract with C&A Construction, LLC, for sewer system rehabilitation work.

The construction project, which encompasses the rehabilitation of about 336 sanitary sewer mains, includes the replacement of approximately 7,196 linear feet of pipe through open-cut excavation, about 503 sanitary sewer main point repairs, the construction of 90 maintenance holes and 13 access chamber assemblies.

“Rehabilitating the 700 miles of the city’s aging wastewater collection system and resulting discharges is part of the Consent Decree with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),” Dietz said. “This project will continue to reduce the number of sanitary sewer overflows (SSO) as progress on year seven of the 10-year revitalization project continues.”

Construction is scheduled for July and completion is planned for July 2024.