A Price Construction machine spreads paving material on the center lane section of Gregg Street Saturday afternoon. Restriping of Gregg Street could begin as early as today, officials said. (HERALD photo/Steve Reagan)

By THOMAS JENKINS     
Staff Writer
The Gregg Street reconstruction saw some much needed progress late last week, according to project officials, with completion of the project's second phase expected early this week.

According to Jake Whitehead, spokesman for local contractor Price Construction, who the state has hired to complete the project, re-striping could begin as early as today.

“Tuesday we will have the striping contractor and barricade contractor in to re-stripe and set the detour from Third Street to 15th Street on the west side, moving traffic to the east side,” said Whitehead. “The current center turn lane will become the south bound lane and the current north bound passing lane will be the temporary turning lane. The north bound traffic will continue to be up against the east curb.

“This detour will allow us to remove both of the existing south bound lanes from Fourth to 13th Street to begin the rehabilitation. We are hopeful that the underlying subgrade will not be as damaged as the center turning lane, but there are signs that we will run into some of the same moisture delays.”

Once the initial surface is removed from the lanes, Whitehead said there are several factors that could effect how long this new phase will take to complete.

“After the removal of the driving surface, the condition of the existing subgrade and TXDOT’s decision of repair options will determine the duration of rebuilding the south bound lanes,” said Whitehead.

While work on the roadways moves along, Whitehead said efforts to repair curbs and sidewalks — as well as bring the structures into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act — are also moving forward.

“The concrete sidewalk, drives and ADA ramps are coming along fairly quickly, as well as the completion of the electrical work for the new street lights,” said Whitehead. “With this completion, it will allow the concrete crews to fall back and complete the leave outs and redesigns by TXDOT at various locations on the east side of Gregg Street.

“With the completion of the concrete and electrical work in sight, it allows for less manipulation of traffic detours from lane to lane on the southern end of this project. Once again, we ask all residence and business owners up and down Gregg and Main streets to please control the runoff of water from irrigation systems because this only causes more delays in the completion of these projects.”

Whitehead said construction efforts on Main Street — part of the city of Big Spring's Street Bond project, also being handled by Price Construction — have also made progress.

“Main Street. has also seen some progress. The concrete median curbs have been placed and the irrigation for the landscaping is almost complete,” he said. “During our transitional phases on Gregg street, we will be turning our attention to the road surface on Main. We will be repairing the over cut in the median section and repairing the water line crossings and pot holes that have become apparent problems for motorist. Within the coming days, we hope to get Main Street back up to a suitable standard for the traveling public.”

Contact Staff Writer Thomas Jenkins at 263-7331 ext. 232 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it