The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is ready to begin work on a project that will update the traffic signals on US 84 at the Loop 289/Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Boulevard interchange in the city of Lubbock. The $532,293 project is being funded through the state’s Highway Safety Improvement Program and federal funds.
Contractor Willis Electric Co. LP, of Abilene, Texas, will begin setting up traffic control along the project limits this week with work beginning May 15. Project improvements include new traffic signals and signal poles, US 84 median work, adding flashing yellow left turn arrows and the installation of a vehicle detection system designed to improve traffic flow on US 84.
Motorists driving on US 84, Loop 289 frontage roads and MLK can anticipate various lane closures, and with the possibility, at some point during project construction, the intersection temporarily becoming an all-way (4-way) stop condition, said Jeremy Dearing, P.E., TxDOT traffic engineer and project manager.
“One possible major change in the construction zone will be to temporarily convert the traffic signal controlled intersections to all-way stop (flashing-red) intersections; but we’ll inform the public before that does happen.” Dearing said. “We know this project is going to affect a lot of motorists. Updating the traffic signal at this busy intersection is a quite an undertaking but our goal is to make sure we get the work done in the safest and most efficient way possible.”
A vehicle detection system, to notify US 84 motorists of the approaching traffic signal, will also be installed as part of the project.
“The system is designed to alert motorists as they approach the intersection to be prepared to stop,” Dearing said. “This type of system is typically used to improve safety on roadways where traffic is approaching a signalized intersection at a high rate of speed. It also minimizes the amount of time motorists wait at a red light.”
The project is scheduled for a late-December 2017 completion.
(News release from TxDOT)