ST0301A-CS100510
(8/13/2010) Keith Marvin - Re: Road Closures in CoppellPage 1
From: Keith Marvin
To:Williams, Melissa
CC:Griffin, Ken; Marshall, George
Date: 5/10/2010 12:35 PM
Subject: Re: Road Closures in Coppell
Ms. Williams,
Thank you for taking the time to contact me with your concerns about our upcoming construction projects. It is nice to
know that people are actually reading the information we send out.
You are correct in your assessment that the closure of both Sandy Lake Road and Bethel Road could overlap. This is not
due to a lack of coordination within the engineering department. Bethel Road was not intended to be used as a reliever
route for the Sandy Lake project for a couple of reasons. First, Bethel Road is not a through street east of Denton Tap, so
people seeking to continue east would not be able to do so without turning either north or south on Denton Tap. Both
Parkway Blvd. to the north and Southwestern Blvd. to the south do continue east of Denton Tap, although Southwestern
becomes Beltline Road east of Denton Tap. The second reason Bethel was not intended as a reliever route is that the
approach to Denton Tap is only one lane. Traffic approaching this intersection backs up considerably under normal
conditions, and right turn and through traffic backs up and sits while left turn traffic waits to turn. This is one of the main
reasons for the Bethel Road project, and would be completely unbearable if we used it as a detour route during the Sandy
Lake project.
As far as timing of the projects goes, traffic patterns in general change significantly within the city during the summer
months while school is out. We make every effort to utilize this time to complete projects that will cause the most
disruption to traffic. We know that closure of any road causes disruption, but closure of a major arterial like Sandy Lake
should only be done during the summer. We have set up this project to allow the contractor 30 days of closure, and have
offered an incentive of $3,000 per day for early completion. This means if the contractor is able to complete the project
and open the road in 21 days he will earn a bonus of $27,000. We expect this incentive to prompt the contractor to work
as expeditiously as possible.
The Bethel Road project will not have quite the traffic impact as the Sandy Lake closure, and will be much longer in
duration. We do however want to take advantage of the reduced traffic volume during the summer months as much as
possible. We have also offered the contractor for this project an incentive for early completion.
Please feel free to contact me to discuss any further aspects of the Bethel Road Project. I have copied George Marshall in
our office on this email, and I'm sure he would be happy to discuss any additional details for the Sandy Lake/Denton Tap
intersection improvements.
Keith Marvin, P.E.
Project Engineer
(972) 304-3681
>>> Melissa Williams <pretty.eyes2@verizon.net> 5/8/2010 3:05 PM >>>
Keith,
As I am reading the letter we received from you today, I became quite confused. Please clarify what I have read.
City Desk newsletter/Water Bill insert indicates that the intersection of Denton Tap and Sandy Lake will be closed for 30
days. Did our City officials think it would be wise to close this intersection, as well as Bethel Rd (which could be a though-
put) at the same time? For some reason, this doesn't seem quite logical. Is there an extreme urgency at this time to
reconstruct the Bethel Rd. bridge? It appears as though there isn't coordination within the City's Engineering Department.
Thanks in Advance,
Melissa Williams
Forest Cove Estates