Proposed Center Street Bridge
The Arlington City Council gave the go-ahead to continue the Center Street extension project, which is scheduled to go to bid in April. Construction on a new extension of Center Street, which will include a four-lane bridge over Interstate 20, could begin as early as this summer.
Besides extending Center Street from Highlander Boulevard to Bardin Road, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will build a new bridge wide enough to accommodate six lanes in the future.
City Council members approved funding for the $14.4 million project in January. Construction of the bridge is estimated at $11 million. Arlington will pay for the road extension by using certificates of obligation and then repay that debt with property taxes collected in the Arlington Highlands tax increment reinvestment zone.
According to the Keith Brooks, engineering operations manager for the City of Arlington, this major construction project not only will "provide a new access point across Interstate 20 - connecting north and south Arlington - it will provide traffic relief to the Collins Street, Matlock Road and Cooper Street bridges located nearby."
Once completed, the bridge will give drivers an alternate route to the Arlington Highlands, restaurants, Arlington Municipal Airport and other businesses on either side of Interstate 20.
"This project is critical to the city's infrastructure and will invigorate our regional economy by creating jobs," said Bruce Payne, economic development manager for the City of Arlington. "It's also attractive to developers willing to be in close proximity to the Arlington Municipal Airport."
TxDOT is currently scheduled to bid the project in April 2014. Bridge construction is expected to take about a year to complete.
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