I-69 in TX

[Thegeet]

Bids were opened today for upgrading 6.75 miles of US 281 (I-69C) to freeway with frontage roads north Edinburg.

The plans show 2x2 main lines with a center barrier and continuous frontage roads. Curves are smoothed with new alignments and right-of-way acquisition at the curve points. The winning bid is by a contractor I'm not familiar with, and is surprisingly low.

Unfortunately TxDOT has retired the long-used web pages to report bid results, and the new format is much more difficult to extract for pasting into a page for display. So I may not be posting results regularly in the future.

PROJECT NAME: US 281 HIDALGO (FUTURE I-69)
FROM: 0.273 MI S OF SH 186
TO: 0.023 MI N OF FM 490

Code Select Expand

Txdot Engineer's Estimate     191,485,571.75
IOC COMPANY LLC               164,929,773.20
ANDERSON COLUMBIA CO., INC.   181,608,228.73
POSILLICO CIVIL, INC.         185,605,602.28
PULICE CONSTRUCTION, INC.     208,782,086.48
JAMES CONSTRUCTION GROUP, LLC 217,743,743.82


LFG! A local construction firm that will take part in a national project! Yey.

[yakra]

Judging by the 10/2024 overhead imagery in Google Earth it looks like the Diboll Bypass is pretty far along. It looks like it would be completed well before December 2025. But I doubt the project is going to be done before Spring 2025.

At some point during 2024, I went to https://drivetexas.org/?ll=-94.7787,31.2094&z=13 and saw a date of 2025-05-22 listed.
Looking at it again, it appears to just be in reference to construction delays & alternating lane closures @ the N end of the bypass. Take from that what you will; doesn't necessarily mean the whole project is done then.

[Thegeet]

Judging by the 10/2024 overhead imagery in Google Earth it looks like the Diboll Bypass is pretty far along. It looks like it would be completed well before December 2025. But I doubt the project is going to be done before Spring 2025.

At some point during 2024, I went to https://drivetexas.org/?ll=-94.7787,31.2094&z=13 and saw a date of 2025-05-22 listed.
Looking at it again, it appears to just be in reference to construction delays & alternating lane closures @ the N end of the bypass. Take from that what you will; doesn't necessarily mean the whole project is done then.

Even then, I predict just striping and final touches to be performed. At worst, one lane would be closed in each direction.

[TheBox]

https://www.kristv.com/news/local-news/in-your-neighborhood/san-patricio-county/odem/txdot-invites-public-to-i-69-meeting-in-odem

[05danper42842]

https://www.kristv.com/news/local-news/in-your-neighborhood/san-patricio-county/odem/txdot-invites-public-to-i-69-meeting-in-odem

quite a long time for construction  to start in 2032s. By that time I will forget about this project.

[MaxConcrete]

https://www.kristv.com/news/local-news/in-your-neighborhood/san-patricio-county/odem/txdot-invites-public-to-i-69-meeting-in-odem

The article is very wrong. According to the presentation at the public meeting, a recommended alignment has been selected and it is none of the options shown in the map in the article. This fact sheet also shows the recommended alignment.

North of Odem, the recommended alignment veers well east of the railroad. It is somewhat longer that the original option A, which ran parallel to the railroad tracks slightly east. (see presentation). I estimate the recommended alignment to be 8.06 miles, compared to 6.92 miles for the original alignment A. Apparently the route was adjusted to avoid the cotton facilities shown in green in this map.

I always prefer the most efficient and direct route, since major highways will likely exist hundreds of years into the future. Every inefficiency gets multiplied by every vehicle, from now to (practically) forever. The only upside to the recommended alignment is that the north section (new alignment) has smooth curves, and south of Odem the alignment follows the existing US 77.

[Bobby5280]

It still sucks they're forecast to not start construction until 2032 -7 years from now. Hopefully a lot of other I-69 projects will be completed in the meantime.

[vdeane]

Meanwhile, I can't help but wonder if the coming tariffs will affect I-69.  If US/Mexico trade is blown up long-term, the need to build interstates around the Rio Grande could evaporate.

[Bobby5280]

Apparently the tariffs are officially now in effect: 25% on goods from Mexico and Canada, an additional 10% on goods from China. Those fees could go much higher due to a retaliatory clause. I don't expect the governments of Mexico and Canada to just sit back and take being bullied; it's a sure thing they'll enact retaliatory tariffs of their own.

An ensuing trade war will have broad effects on the economy very quickly. It will be interesting to see how the Dow Jones and Nasdaq perform on Monday. If people were pissed off about grocery prices before, just wait until they see the new prices as fresh imported produce and meat arrives on store shelves. If the trade war goes on for months or longer it will result in a lot of lost American jobs. 70% of the economy is driven by consumer spending. Regular working class people are already cash-strapped. Price shocks will just cause demand for any discretionary purchases to crater.

Highway projects like I-69 are built over multiple decades of time. Politics and policy can go through many swings through those years. But there are things happening that could lessen the need of new superhighways going to the Mexican border.

More industrial development activity is taking place in Mexico. Chinese companies are building factories in Mexico. American companies have already had a big footprint there. What those business may do is build product in Mexico to export elsewhere than the US.

The new administration's obsession with blocking immigration (not just the illegal kind) could end up working. The messaging is clearly, "immigrants aren't welcome here." We could see millions of people "self deport." Where would that leave all the industries in the US who have been very dependent on migrant labor? I think a lot of those businesses would simply shut down. For one thing, we would end up having to import nearly all our meat and any produce that can't be harvested using machines. And all that product would be subject to tariffs. If a mass exodus of immigrants took place it might be very difficult to reverse.

[vdeane]

Apparently the tariffs are officially now in effect: 25% on goods from Mexico and Canada, an additional 10% on goods from China. Those fees could go much higher due to a retaliatory clause. I don't expect the governments of Mexico and Canada to just sit back and take being bullied; it's a sure thing they'll enact retaliatory tariffs of their own.

An ensuing trade war will have broad effects on the economy very quickly. It will be interesting to see how the Dow Jones and Nasdaq perform on Monday. If people were pissed off about grocery prices before, just wait until they see the new prices as fresh imported produce and meat arrives on store shelves. If the trade war goes on for months or longer it will result in a lot of lost American jobs. 70% of the economy is driven by consumer spending. Regular working class people are already cash-strapped. Price shocks will just cause demand for any discretionary purchases to crater.

Highway projects like I-69 are built over multiple decades of time. Politics and policy can go through many swings through those years. But there are things happening that could lessen the need of new superhighways going to the Mexican border.

More industrial development activity is taking place in Mexico. Chinese companies are building factories in Mexico. American companies have already had a big footprint there. What those business may do is build product in Mexico to export elsewhere than the US.

The new administration's obsession with blocking immigration (not just the illegal kind) could end up working. The messaging is clearly, "immigrants aren't welcome here." We could see millions of people "self deport." Where would that leave all the industries in the US who have been very dependent on migrant labor? I think a lot of those businesses would simply shut down. For one thing, we would end up having to import nearly all our meat and any produce that can't be harvested using machines. And all that product would be subject to tariffs. If a mass exodus of immigrants took place it might be very difficult to reverse.

Honestly, high prices might be the least of our worries.  I can't help but wonder if we'll see shortages so bad that it will be March 2020 all over again, possibly worse.

I also expect this to cause permanent damage to our relationship with the rest of the world.