Bates Street on track for summer completion in Keller

With an eye on mobility improvements, Keller is making headway in Old Town Keller with several improvements. First, is the Bates Street Reconstruction Project.

“Bates Street is a three-pronged project where we have Bates Street, a pedestrian-activated signal on US 377 and Bates Street Park that’s also getting rehabbed,” said Director of Public Works Alonzo Liñán. “We’re 95% done on [the signal at] US 377. On Bates Street, we’re 60% done now, and we do expect to still hit our target of late summer completion.”

While much of the city’s work is complete with the Bates Street project, utilities are a big part of the equation.

“I’d say 75% of the pavement is down; we have pedestal pads for the utility boxes in and the conduit run,” Liñán said. “Now the utilities just have to run their wires through it. Once that’s done, we move on to the park, and that will start in the spring.”

Second, the Bear Creek roundabout has all of the pavement, markings, sidewalks and all of the utilities done, according to Liñán.

“Oncor has three or four lights that need to be repaired,” Liñán said. “Outside of that, it’s fully operational and doing what it’s supposed to do.”

The third portion is the South Elm Street enhancements, which include on-street parking, adding street lights, and replacing the bridge that spans Bear Creek.

“You won’t see anything today, because it’s all on paper,” Liñán said. “That’s probably about 30% of the way through and we expect to see some designs [in] mid- to late summer.”

Cost for Old Town Keller Phase II is $6,660,753. Funding sources include the city’s general fund, Keller Development Corporation, American Rescue Plan Act, Green Ribbon grants from TxDOT and debt to be issued.