County Road (CR) 59

CobbFendley was selected by Brazoria County to provide engineering services to reconstruct and widen County Road (CR) 59 within the City of Pearland. This project involves converting this east-west roadway from an existing two-lane rural open ditch roadway to a four-lane boulevard urban section that includes storm sewer, shared-use path, raised median, left turn lanes, traffic signals, detention pond, etc. The project is 1.07 miles in length with limits from just west of CR 48 to Kirby Drive. To the east of the project, CR 59 is an existing four-lane boulevard section, and to the west of the project, CR 59 is a two-lane rural section. The existing ROW was 40 feet, with an additional 80 feet required to obtain the County’s desired 120-foot proposed ROW width.

The CR 59 project is funded through the H-GAC Transportation Improvement Program with 80% federal and 20% local funding and adheres to all requirements of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Additionally, CR 59’s construction is being “Local Let” through Brazoria County; therefore, this project also meets requirements of the Local Government Project Procedures (LGPP) with federal funding and includes full oversight by Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). This includes management and documentation for invoices, reimbursements, and DBE requirements. The design for CR 59 implements all TxDOT specifications, TxDOT design standards, and follows the typical TxDOT project development process.

Land use in the vicinity of the project includes mixture of rural and master planned residential communities including Shepherd of the Heart Methodist Church, small retail and commercial developments, and Red Duke Elementary just outside of the project’s limits on the east side of Kirby Drive. Shadow Creek High School is less than half a mile to the north along Kirby Drive.

PRELIMINARY ENGINEERING AND ENVIRONMENTAL. The initial phase of this project included preliminary engineering to develop three proposed roadway alignment alternatives and one no build alternative, detention pond options, and potential ROW impacts for each alternative. Impacts for each alternative were evaluated in the environmental document and public involvement activities. The public involvement for this project included a preliminary public meeting to present these alternatives, which were then revised to accommodate the public’s input, select a preferred design alternative, and presented back to the public in a formal public hearing. The environmental document type was a Categorical Exclusion (Open-ended D-List CE) and successfully received NEPA clearance on schedule.

SURVEY. CobbFendley provided full topographic survey and aerial photogrammetry services for this project. For the preliminary engineering phase, we obtained survey data necessary to develop the design alternatives. Once the preferred alternative was selected, we performed full topographic survey for the detailed design phase. Our team developed ROW maps and parcel plats for the selected design alternative which included 19 parcels to support the ROW acquisition process.

ROADWAY AND DRAINAGE. CobbFendley developed roadway geometrics to maintain access to all adjacent properties and provide median openings with left turn lanes at significant developments. The shared use path was designed to comply with all ADA and AASHTO criteria. Roadway profiles were optimized to minimize earthwork while providing desirable storm sewer design. Significant amounts of sheet flow from south to north came to CR 59, which caused complications to the storm sewer design by inundating the roadway with off-site runoff, so a combination of curb inlets (both sag and on-grade) and swales behind the sidewalks were implemented to manage allowable ponding widths on the roadway. Dual trunk lines were utilized to accommodate temporary drainage needs and prevent the trunk lines size from becoming too large.

Due to the volume of floodplain storage in this area and the sheet flow coming to the roadway from the south, the detention pond was significantly larger than typical for this size of project. In the public involvement phase, CobbFendley partnered with the adjacent landowners to find a location for the detention pond that was desirable for all parties involved, including the County and local residents. The detention pond was sized to mitigate all increases in impervious cover, water surface elevations, and peak flows at the project’s outfall and receiving streams. While the project was not required to meet criteria for NOAA Atlas 14 Rain Fall data, the detention pond volume was increased to account for a proportional increase in volume to satisfy the future need. Brazoria County Drainage District No. 4 (BDD4) is the local county district that owns and maintains all channel and detention facilities in this area. All BDD4 criteria and requirements were implemented in the design.

TRAFFIC. There are two signalized intersections within the project limits, CR 48 and Kirby Drive. The traffic signal at Kirby Drive is up to current standard and has adequate pedestrian features. This is being left as is. The traffic signal at CR 48 is span wire on wooden poles that was installed as a temporary solution until this project is built. CobbFendley performed the design to upgrade this intersection’s traffic signal to mast arms with drill shaft foundations and all necessary pedestrian features. Since this project is in the City of Pearland, this project includes design and installation of fiber to interconnect the traffic signals to Pearland’s traffic management center.

CobbFendley implemented a three-phase traffic control plan to minimize impacts to the public and maintain two travel lanes (one in each direction) at all times during construction. First, while maintaining traffic on the existing pavement, build the two proposed westbound lanes. Next, shift traffic to the newly built westbound lanes and build the two proposed eastbound lanes. Finally, with traffic on the outside lane in each direction and the inside lanes closed, build the left turn lanes and raised medians. Prior to building any pavement in the first phase, we specified that the detention pond, outfall structure, and storm sewer connection to the pond were built to satisfy all temporary drainage needs.

UTILITY COORDINATION. CobbFendley provided all utility coordination services with public and private utilities to identify conflicts, coordinate relocation design efforts, and get utility construction completed to verify the project could be built without utility conflicts during the construction phase. This included accounting for a new 36-inch water main that the City of Pearland was designing with intentions to be installed during our design phase.

CONSTRUCTION PHASE SERVICES. Finally, our team was contracted to provide all project manual preparations, construction schedule determinations, bid phase services, and limited construction phase services for the construction of this project.

CobbFendley’s approach to be proactive with communication and coordination during all phases of this project with Brazoria County, TxDOT, BDD4, City of Pearland, public and private utilities, subconsultants, as well as the general public led to successful team building and encouraged an open and honest exchange of information, adherence to the project schedule, compliance with quality standards, and conformance with governing design criteria (FHWA, LGP, TxDOT, County, etc.) throughout the entire process.