We’ve been dodging road construction on our way into town for months and it doesn’t seem to be letting up much. At one point we had no choice but to take a detour that leads under two short railroad bridges on a rough street. At least now we are able to avoid that and drive across the tracks on the way to the main highway, but we still have to turn off one block from the highway and detour one block south, then west.
It seems that the powers that be in the City of Denison, Texas decided to ‘beautify’ the area around the old Katy Depot. One block of Main Street is still blocked off, the block in front of the Police Dept, while they continue their beautification project.
Several of the streets in town were originally all red brick. Some still are in places, where they aren’t paved over in sections with blacktop. I hate those bloomin’ bricks! And in their wisdom, the city planners have decided to redo several blocks with…you guessed it…bricks!
The brick crosswalks that were put in a couple of years ago down Main Street, especially the block east of the highway, quickly developed potholes where the ground beneath the bricks was giving way. So, they tore all that up and are bricking the entire street along with a few side streets in both directions. The street is actually narrower now and more than once we’ve had to stop and wait for someone coming toward us in the other lane to pass so we can get past an extra long pickup that is parked with the tailgate jutting into the lane of traffic. Sigh. But, at least it all much more beautiful. I’ll try to remember to stop and get a photo on my way to town sometime soon.
There is also construction on Hwy 69, the main highway that runs north and south through Denison that has traffic diverted through four blocks of the most traveled area in town. There have been several wrecks at the intersection where the Post Office is located and we have to deal with a flashing red light there or go out of our way south or north and double back to get to the Post Office. That highway crosses Red River into Oklahoma north of town…right past the new Denison High School where another construction project is underway to build a shopping center.
There is also major construction through Sherman on Hwy 75 where they are raising the roadway and redoing some overpasses. It’s been going on for a year and will continue for some time to come. That highway is the main route through Sherman and I’ve lost track of the number of bad wrecks that have occurred along that stretch. There is also construction at a major intersection where Hwy 75 meets Hwy 82, and in both directions on Hwy 82!
And if that wasn’t enough, another main highway, 1417, that parallels Hwy 75 is also under construction with sewer lines being put in on the east side of the road. It intersects 75 south of Sherman and ALL of that was under construction until a few weeks ago. It’s a nightmare. On top of that there is a new high school on the south side of Sherman, on Hwy 1417.
Three of our doctor’s offices are at the intersection of 1417 and another main traveled street in Sherman where they are working on the drainage, and the Walmart Neighborhood Market where we like to shop is at that same intersection, west of the highway. At the east end of that street, before it meets Hwy 75, a couple of blocks have been blocked off and torn up while a bridge over a creek was rebuilt. It was under construction for a year and just reopened.
Last year was a bad year for the roads the area with the below zero weather and I can think of at least half a dozen places in and around downtown Denison where there were water main breaks and the streets had to be dug up. Some of those water lines were really old, sections of them were cast iron from the last century.
So, basically, stuff is old and needs to be rebuilt. Nothing new in that, it’s just that it all seems to be happening at once. It will be really nice when it’s finished, but for the time being it’s a huge pain in the butt.
Rural Texas Knitter 