City Council Approves Paving Southwest Blvd. Over Red Arroyo with Concrete

SAN ANGELO, TX –– After months of construction work diverting traffic on one of San Angelo's busiest streets, the reconstruction project on Southwest Blvd. over the Red Arroyo near McDonalds's is one step closer to being completed.

During this week's San Angelo City Council meeting, the city council spoke with Operations Assistant Director Patrick Frerich about a proposed change order that would pave the street with concrete rather than asphalt as planned and add an additional $381,942.12 to the cost of the project.

The change order would raise the price tag to $7,044,837.11 –– but help ensure the longevity of the project for years to come.

According to Frerich, the additional funds will allow the area between Green Meadow Dr to Loop 306 Frontage Rd to be paved with concrete instead of hot mix asphalt.

"Southwest Blvd from Green Meadow Drive to Loop 306 has historically seen road failures due to the unstable soils and base material in that area," stated Engineer Charles Michalewicz in a report to the council. "Additionally, the water that overtopped the road during rain events further deteriorated the existing asphalt."

With this in mind, city staff has requested that the engineering firm design that specific section of the road with "reinforced concrete paving to help insure the roadway against future failures."

In regards to questions by the council as to why the issue was not brought up during the bidding process, Frerich explained that "at some point during the design process, the requested concrete paving was changed to hot mix asphalt and was bid and contracted as such."

The change of order was unanimously approved by the council –– 5 to 0.