The projects will make roads in seven counties safer for drivers.

Work should begin over the summer on 11 more highway projects in the Austin District, after the Texas Transportation Commission recently awarded contracts worth almost $8 million. The projects will make roads in seven counties safer for drivers.

One of the contracts will repair pavements in Travis County on I-35 between Riverside Drive and SH 45 Southeast. Lone Star Paving will start the $848,590 job this summer.

Also in Travis County, Lone Star Paving will resurface SH 71 between RM 620 and RM 3238. The project cost is $425,202. Opportunity Excavation/Concrete LLC will install riprap and guardrail on U.S. 183 at Riverside Drive. Riprap is loose rock and stone used to prevent erosion. This contract is worth $333,463.

SH 29 in Williamson County will get resurfaced between I-35 and River Chase Boulevard. APAC-Texas will start the $662,749 job this summer. The work will adjoin a previously approved job to resurface SH 29 west of River Chase Boulevard, also scheduled for the summer.

In San Marcos, the southbound I-35 frontage road gets a $386,404 facelift in the next few months. Austin Materials Inc. will handle the work between SH 123 and RM 12.

Meanwhile, sidewalks and bicycle lanes are on the slate for Kyle this summer. Relmco Inc. will complete the project on RM 150 between Center Street and Silverado Drive for $849,078.

Relmco Inc. will also improve guardrails and provide safety treatments for objects on U.S. 87. The work in Mason County was approved in a $983,038 contract that will take about a year to complete.

Also in Mason County, left-turn and right-turn lane lanes will be added on SH 71. Fritcher Construction Services will complete the $944,570 contract at RM 386 in Fredonia. The work should take about five months to complete.

Angel Brothers Holdings Corp. will repair and resurface U.S. 281 at various locations in Burnet County. The nearly $2.4 million job will feature the new, thin overlay asphalt mixture that the Austin District helped pioneer.

FM 198 and FM 1966 in Caldwell County and SH 123 in Hays County should be safer to drive with new centerline texturing. D.I.J. Construction will apply the technique for $88,314 on FM 1966 between SH 21 and SH 142; on FM 198 between SH 80 and FM 1966; and two locations on SH 123 between I-35 and Rattler Road. Centerline texturing provides a physical and audible alert to drivers who have drifted too close to the center striping on the road. Work should begin this fall.

In Bastrop and Caldwell counties, Austin Filter Systems will repair bridges and riprap at multiple locations on SH 21 and FM 969 from flood damage over the past eight months. The work on the $448,993 contract begins this summer.

For more information, visit TxDOT.gov.

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