In the fall of 2019, work began to reconstruct Calder Road from Ervin to Cross Colony Drive in the same way as the northern potion: The road would be widened from two lanes to three; one lane would become a continuous center-turn lane; and the road would be converted from asphalt with ditches on the sides to concrete with curbs and gutters.
Officials said the work on the southern portion is going much better than it did on the northern portion.
The northern work was a challenge, officials said, because it was essentially four projects in one: Contractors had to install a new water pump station, a new water line and a new sanitary sewer before road work could begin.
“[Calder Road] had the heart of our water system, [which we] had to do quadruple bypass on before [we] got started,” Baumgartner said. “It was millions and millions of dollars.”
Additionally, the northern portion of Calder Road was a one-way street for most of the project from spring 2017 to February 2019.
“That was part of the frustration with [northern] Calder Road was it was one-way,” Baumgartner said.
That is not the case with the southern project. Contractors will keep the road open to two lanes throughout the duration of the work, and they have built a temporary road adjacent to Calder Road that motorists can use while workers install water lines and repave the real road, officials said.
Additionally, contractors will install a new water line along the length of the project. A few hundred feet of the south side of the road has already been paved, Baumgartner said.
Once complete around September 2021, motorists will have access to a three-lane road from League City Parkway to Cross Colony that has better drainage and is less prone to the many potholes asphalt road surfaces receive, officials said.
