Wednesday, March 27, 2024

South White Chapel Bridge Repair

white chapel bridge closeup

UPDATE: 11/25/2014 – The White Chapel Bridge Repair will begin the week of December 8th, at which time the bridge will be closed for up to 30 days. 

UPDATE: 11/20/2014 – The project start for the White Chapel Bridge Repair has been pushed back to mid-December. 

The South White Chapel Bridge, which crosses Big Bear Creek, will soon be closed to remove sand and rocks from around the bridge supports (aka “scour”) and to address channel erosion around the base of the bridge. This process, called “scour mitigation,” helps ensure the long-term integrity of the bridge and to ensure the safety of all motorists who use the bridge. The South White Chapel Bridge will be closed for up to thirty (30) days while the work is being done and is expected to open back up in December, weather permitting.

In 2011, the City of Southlake was notified by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) of concerns regarding channel degradation at the South White Chapel Bridge. Following this routine inspection, TxDOT recommended mitigation measures that will stabilize the channel bottom and help prevent further erosion. The City contracted Halff Associates, Inc. to produce an engineering report with recommendations for this scour mitigation project and the construction contractor Green Scaping, LP will implement the recommendations, which include:

  • The installation of rock rip-rap for scour countermeasures
  • The installation of concrete collars for the columns to provide structural support
  • Additional scour protection on the north stream bank

The South White Chapel Bridge is important not only to the City of Southlake but also to the City of Colleyville, who will be sharing in the engineering and construction costs of the project. Because of the shared importance of the bridge to both cities, it is expected that these repairs will impact traffic in the area near the construction zone. As a result of the temporary closure, we are asking motorists who use this bridge to seek alternate routes for the 30 days.

Many discussions were held with the City of Colleyville regarding ways to allow the bridge to remain open to traffic during construction.  Yet the need to protect the workers and the need to limit vibration of passing vehicles during the concrete collar installation made the 30 day closure necessary.  Additionally, closing the bridge completely will allow the work to be done much faster than if it remained opened, which in turn ensures the bridge re-opens to traffic in a timelier manner.

We appreciate your patience during this process and, once again, ask motorists to seek alternate routes.

For additional information about this project, please visit the project construction page here. If there are any questions, please direct them to the Public Works Department at 817-748-8098.

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