Colleyville breaks ground on new towers at Main Street, Hwy. 26 intersection

The city of Colleyville held a groundbreaking ceremony to kick off construction of two new towers at Main Street and Hwy. 26 on Nov. 16, according to Kathy Wheat, Colleyville's Place 3 City Council member.

Wheat said at the Nov. 16 regular City Council meeting the construction will start with the demolition of the small tower structure at Main Street, and construction of the towers marks the final phase in the city’s corridor beautification plan. The beautification phases are being done in conjunction with the reconstruction of Hwy. 26 by the Texas Department of Transportation.

According to the city of Colleyville’s website, the reconstruction of Hwy. 26 is “one of the largest road projects in city history.” The project turned the highway into a six-lane roadway with raised, curbed medians, and it includes 23 lane miles of new roadway, improvements to the drainage system, 4.8 miles of 8-foot-wide sidewalks, eight signalized intersections and a bridge over Little Bear Creek.

TxDOT completed the first phase of the project, running from Colleyville’s northern limit to John McCain Road, in early 2016, according to the city’s website. Work started on the second phase from John McCain Road to Brown Trail in spring 2016. According to Mark Wood, Colleyville assistant city manager, the TxDOT project is complete.

The beautification efforts are broken into three phases and funded by the tax increment financing district, the website stated. These projects began nearly three years ago, Wheat said.

Phase 1 of the beautification efforts added decorative light poles and was completed in December 2020, according to the city’s website. Phase 2 encompassed median and right-of-way beautification and is now complete, Wood said.

Phase 3 of the plan is broken into three sub-phases. The Main Street site at Hwy. 26 is the first and features new towers, lanterns, seasonal colors, canopy trees and improvements to intersection corners, the website stated. A second construction site will be at John McCain Road and Hwy. 26, and it includes a Colleyville identity sign, a tower element, stone walls, flagstone and a native meadow.

The third site of Phase 3 is at Little Bear Creek and Hwy. 26, according to the website. It will have a Colleyville identity sign, a tower element, stone steps, ornamental trees and a future trailhead.

“The improvements set the tone for quality in our city's commercial streetscape that our residents expect,” Wheat said at the meeting. “We thank our residents and businesses for their patience as we bring about these exceptional community enhancements.”