Rudeloff Road to undergo total makeover
(Seguin) — The expansion of Rudeloff Road from State Highway 46 to State Highway 123 is officially underway. The city came together Monday morning to celebrate the launch of the much anticipated project connecting the city’s west and east sides.
Helping to orchestrate the $15.4 million project on the city’s behalf is Melissa Reynolds, the director of capital projects and engineering. Reynolds says Phase I of this project, which stretches 1.5 miles from Hwy. 46 to Huber Road just east of the Fields of Huber Ranch, is set to almost triple the width of the current roadway.
“The road currently is not quite 20 feet wide. I think it kind of varies between 16 to 18 feet most of the way down. It’s going to (be) 60 feet wide with five lanes or a median in some places so two lanes in each direction as you go all the way to 46 — all the way to the second Huber. And, it’s a 10 feet trail on either side, concrete trail. So, there’s some places we had right-of-way challenges but we had room and moved it off of the road,” said Reynolds.
Upon arriving at the end of Huber Road near the softball fields is where Reynolds says Phase II will get started.
“So, we hope to be finishing up this construction as construction of Phase II picks up. So, it will be a seamless transition to Highway 20. There will be a signalized intersection — I think there’s already one — and that’s where we will tie in at,” said Reynolds.
After applying in 2015, the city in 2017 was finally awarded funding from the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (AAMPO).
However, it was additional funds awarded this past October that gave the city the official green light to move forward with its plans.
It was the resiliency of Team Seguin, that Reynolds says in the end, made it all possible.
“The road started way back in 2016 when we got funding from AAMPO. The design actually started in 2017 with BGE. We spent five years (on it). The capital projects and design team had been working through design and environmental clearance, public meetings, design approvals and there was a little thing called COVID. It made acquisitions quite difficult because it hit right at the time for acquisitions to start on this project.
So as with our current road conditions, which are a little pot holed and rutted, the road here was a little bit rough but Seguin is a tough bunch and COVID brought a significant cost escalation as well. That caused some delays but (it was) a true testament of partnerships and regional support. We give much thanks to AAMPO for their funding support and TxDOT for jumping through all those hoops for us. The project is a true testament of resiliency of Team Seguin. (Thanks to) our incredible partnerships and team efforts to provide significant mobility improvements to our region and not only for vehicles but also the bikes and pedestrians,” said Reynolds.
Located in his district, Jim Lievens, Seguin City Councilman District 3, says he is eyewitness to Seguin’s rapidly growing north side.
Lievens says he can’t help but be excited about the doors that this road expansion project will open for the area.
“This is just the first step. Yes, we’ve seen the growth all over Seguin but we, who live on the north side, have really seen explosive growth on this side. I don’t have to tell you all that. So, infrastructure is the first step. This will open up the doors for many things. Yes, we are going to have the increased mobility. That’s going to be wonderful on not only Rudeloff but Cordova. But guys, I am excited about commercial opportunities. We need more shopping experiences that are close to us in this area, close to home so we don’t have to travel five, 10 miles one direction or the other. So, my hopes is that this will open the doors to some commercial activity, especially for those who live in the Navarro ISD, such as myself. I hope we get more commercial activity to broaden our tax base so that we are not just a tax base that is based on rooftops. So, I’m excited about all the doors that this is opening and I just can not wait,” said Lievens.
Now that construction will be in full force, Reynolds asks that commuters exercise a bit of patience as this project, in the end, will be well worth it.
“Construction is never fun, never pretty but hopefully, keeping the end game in sight, it is going to be worth it. Progress takes a little bit of challenge and that’s what we are hitting right now. We are in the challenging stage. It was a rough road getting here. There is a lot of impatience and people have been waiting a long time for this roadway. But here we are. We are here. The next year and a half or so is going to be a little rough but once, we get through that and what we end up with is going to be so worth it. We are building the rest of the road through the farm fields to 123 and to be able to have that connectivity between 46 and 123 is just going to be huge,” said Reynolds.
The estimated completion date for the project is December 2025.
Until then, the city plans to maintain road access along Rudeloff for residents and businesses in that area.
