By Joni Simon
Contributing Writer

Construction-weary Leon Springs residents will have to cope with another project beginning this weekend.

The Texas Department of Transportation and its contractor, Zachry Construction Company, will initiate demolition of the bridge at Ralph Fair Road over westbound Interstate-10 on Friday.

An 18-wheeler carrying a wind energy system hit the bridge June 30, thus necessitating its closing for safety reasons.

“Weather permitting, crews will remove the damaged bridge deck and portions of the bridge support beams over I-10 westbound on the weekend of July 18 to 21,” said TXDOT spokeswoman Maggie Rios. ”Once the removal is completed, crews will have night closures to replace the bridge and beams.”

The work actually begins the night before. During this evening, the crews plan to prepare for the weekend closure. They’ll close the bridge Friday night with the work wrapping up by 5:30 a.m. on Monday, according to TxDOT officials. During this weekend’s work, the westbound frontage road, which runs both east and west, will be converted to a one-way road between the exit ramp prior to Ralph Fair Road to the entrance ramp to Interstate 10 past Ralph Fair Road to provide access to motorists exiting and re-entering the highway.

Anyone confused by that need not worry. Law enforcement officials will be present to assist with traffic control.

“We do expect congestion with any construction project, but hopefully, since it’s a weekend project, traffic will not be as congested,” said Laura Lopez, TxDOT public information officer. ”Letting the public know in advance helps.”

The estimated completion date for the $420,000 emergency project is next month, which is slightly earlier than first expected. Initially, TxDOT officials stated completion of the project could take up to two months.

“When damages were looked at, we had to have an estimate of how long it would take to work on the bridge,” Lopez said. “We have to take into account materials and equipment that need to be acquired prior to work beginning. We anticipated the work to be completed in less than two months, but we have to take in account the items I mentioned and, of course, the weather.”

According to Lopez, the contractor had planned to work on the bridge at night, but to save time, a schedule was devised that allows for one big weekend closure to remove the damaged portion of the bridge deck and beams. The project is further expedited by additional night closures to replace the deck and beams.

“There’s no point in taking several days to remove it when they can do it in one weekend,” Lopez said.

Soon after the accident, TxDOT officials realized that the whole bridge didn’t need to be replaced and that shaved off some time as well, she added. The current plan is for the bridge to be open in early to mid-August, which is good news for parents with school-aged children.

The project, at first called a repair job, changed scope and became a demolition undertaking after further inspection. The unexpected venture won’t come out of TxDOT’s budget.

“In situations like this, tax dollars pay for the emergency work and we in turn get reimbursed by the insurance company of the company responsible for the damage,” Lopez said. “We apologize for the inconvenience to motorists that live and travel to that area and will work to get the bridge open soon.”