Those involved in the multimillion dollar makeover of William Joel Bryan from the freeway to downtown Bryan received nearly unanimous city council support for preliminary plans developed by consultants.
The public gets a final opportunity in two weeks to comment on slower speed limits, narrower traffic lanes, raised medians, more traffic signals, and new roundabouts to accommodate new sidewalks and wider paths for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Traffic signals are planned at WJB and Coulter, roundabouts are proposed at each end of Sue Haswell Park, and pedestrian traffic signals would be added to cross WJB in and out of the park.
A raised median would be built along WJB between Villa Maria and the freeway, limiting the number of left turns in that area.
For eastbound traffic approaching the freeway, a right turn lane would be extended for motorists headed south on the freeway.
New sidewalks and wider paved paths for pedestrians and bicyclists with trees to provide cover are also planned.
Consultants and city staff told the council the changes are also expected to reduce the number of crashes along the corridor. There were 280 wrecks between March 1, 2015 and March 1, 2018. 191 of the collisions were along WJB between Villa Maria and the freeway. 47 were between Texas and Sue Haswell Park, 34 were in the park zone, and 8 were between the park and Villa Maria.
In addition to the final community meeting on January 24th, public comments can still be made on the city’s special website, wjbproject.com.
The council was told the Texas Department of Transportation plans to open construction bids around August of next year, and the project would take one to two years to complete.
Mayor Andrew Nelson says the city is spending up to $2 million dollars and the Texas Department of Transportation up to $13 million.
Click below to hear some of the comments from the Bryan city council workshop discussion.
Listen to “Bryan City Council receives William Joel Bryan Parkway project update” on Spreaker.