FM 407 road improvements on the horizon

The FM 407 widening project is now underway, and Denton County officials said some much needed traffic relief to the region will soon be provided.

Construction on the project, which consists of widening two sections of FM 407 from two lanes to four lanes from Briarhill to Chinn Chapel, and Chinn Chapel to FM 1830, appears to be on schedule for late January to early February.

“The contract was awarded to Lane Construction in July 2011, but included a six month delay to complete utility relocation,” Andy Eads, Denton County Commissioner from Precinct 4, said. “Utilities are on schedule to be clear by the end of January, and construction is planned to start in February. 

“In our last meeting with TxDOT in November, the pre-construction date was tentatively set for February 6, 2012.  We are meeting with TxDOT again on January 10th, and I imagine the pre-construction date will be formally set at that time.  The project is estimated to take 24 months.”

Eads’ section of the widening project is from Chinn Chapel to FM 1830, and rumors have circulated that that section may have been held up due to right-of-way issues with Bartonville Water Corp.

While Eads did not comment on any specific problems, he did say that it appears everything is ready to go now.

“The issues related to Bartonville Water Supply Corporation have been resolved to my knowledge,” Eads said. 

David Hensley, TxDOT representative from the Denton Area Office, confirmed that construction on the section of FM 407 from Chinn Chapel to 1830 is just about ready to get underway and shed a little bit of light on the issues with the Bartonville Water Corp.

“All right-of-way has been purchased for the project,” Hensley said. “There are easement issues that are being resolved with Bartonville Water, but we do not anticipate it will impact the project schedule.”

Denton County Commissioner Bobbie Mitchell of Precinct 3 said there have been a few hiccups along the way to getting construction started on her section, which runs between Briarhill and Chinn Chapel, as well, but said the issues are just about resolved.

“The Section of FM 407 from Briarhill to Chinn Chapel has had some delay due to utilities conflicts, but we are working it out,” Mitchell said. “Unfortunately, having to coordinate the relocation of utilities can take some time, but we have been able to work through these challenges and are now back on track.”

Mitchell said the current estimated completion date according to TXDOT is January of 2013, and said the project should help speed up commutes through the area.

“This road is very important to the flow of traffic through our cities, and we will continue to work to get it completed as soon as possible,” Mitchell said.