Additional equipment and staff have created an uptick in construction activity on the MoPac Improvement Project, said Paul Petrich with HNTB Corporation, which is overseeing the project contractor CH2M Hill on behalf of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority.

"There is a tremendous more amount of work that is going on and it's not just more [construction workers]. You see it going on throughout the corridor itself," Petrich said.

By the end of December there will be about 415 construction staffers working on the project—a 23 percent increase from the end of November and a 74 percent increase from the end of September, he said. The Mobility Authority is overseeing construction of the MoPac project, which will add one tolled lane in each direction from Parmer Lane to Cesar Chavez Street.

Petrich said he has also received resumes to fill the construction manager and project scheduler positions, which have been vacant, the company announced Nov. 19. Petrich said he is reviewing the resumes submitted by CH2M Hill with the Mobility Authority to ensure the people they plan to hire in those positions are acceptable to the Mobility Authority.

To help expedite the project, Petrich said subcontractors have been hired for additional staffing. CH2M Hill has also split the project up into four distinct segments and assigned a management team to each section.

"They are changing the management of the [overall project] to where there is a segment manager for each segment now—a separate superintendent, [field] engineer and construction manager," he said. "Each one of these segments will operate somewhat as a standalone project. The reason for this is better attention in terms of quality and again to expedite the work."

A timeline schedule for the project has not yet been set. Steve Pustelnyk, Director Community Relations for the MoPac Improvement Project, said the schedule is being refined, but that the goal is to complete within the original timeframe of fall 2015. Pustelnyk said the Mobility Authority will have a better idea of a timeframe in January.

Interim CH2M Hill Project Manager Dan Reynolds said he expects the first sound walls to go up around Jan. 5 or Jan. 6. The first sound wall will be located on northbound Enfield Exit and runs along Newfield Lane.