Blackland Road near new school under repair

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April 17, 2009

Leslie Gibson The Zope Gazette Fri Apr 17, 2009, 07:21 PM CDT

Work began Monday on Blackland Road near the new Royse City Intermediate School in Fate, and should continue for six weeks.

The Rockwall County Road and Bridge department is resurfacing the road with asphalt, widening it in places, and widening the culvert from its 30 feet to 60 feet, said county road director Pat NeSmith.

Drivers should expect delays, NeSmith said. At times, passage will be limited to one lane; when unavoidable, completely blocked.

Widening will allow the passage of two buses on the two-lane road near the school. A very small stretch of the road along Northview addition is concrete.

Near the school are housing developments in Fate with access from the portion of the road being repaired. The school will open in the fall.

Both the county and city own lanes and or pieces of the 1.5 mile stretch. The City of Fate is paying $112,000 to the county as its portion of the work, and will take over ownership.

Fate will then own to its ETJ (extra-territorial jurisdiction). The two miles beyond that to State Highway 276 will still belong to the county.

Rockwall County’s road crew works four days a week, with Fridays off, a recent initiative by the department approved by the commissioners court. More work can be done between preparation and clean-up in that schedule, which is practiced by Dallas County.

Generally, asphalt roads have a lifetime of about seven years, NeSmith said. They continually need maintenance, he said. Rockwall’s heavy clay soil expands and contracts, cracking the ground and road. Cracks collect water, which never leaves, the asphalt gets compacted down, and a pothole forms, NeSmith said. Pothole repair can be done year-round, with a different mixture than regular asphalt, he said.

Actual laying of asphalt is most successful when daytime temperatures are in the 80s and nighttime no lower than 60s, NeSmith said. Asphalt is a mix of oil, sand and gravel.

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