Biz-friendly construction marks crosswalk project

At the March 14 Navasota City Council meeting, Director of Utilities Jennifer Reyna announced that TxDOT will begin construction of the long-awaited Washington Avenue-Farquhar Street pedestrian crosswalk Monday, March 28. In an effort to minimize disruption to businesses on Washington Avenue, the City has arranged for construction to take place between 7 p.m. – 7 a.m., Sunday through Friday.

A Pre-Construction Meeting for downtown business owners will also be held at City Hall in council chambers Monday, March 21 at 6 p.m. TxDOT contractor Gary Fuqua and City staff will be available to answer questions about what business owners can expect during the 8–12-week construction period.

The crosswalk project began in early 2018 with traffic studies and the Advance Funding Agreement with TxDOT was finalized in October 2020. TxDOT’s portion of the cost includes construction of new ramps, median, pedestrian crossing signage, and pavement markings. The City of Navasota paid the professional engineering services fee.

The two-phase project consists of construction of the Washington Avenue median from Farquhar east to LaSalle, followed by construction of the pedestrian island and crosswalk across Washington Avenue between Farquhar and Blues Alley/Classic Rock Cafe.

The median will remove the ability of Washington Avenue westbound traffic to make a left turn onto Farquhar, eliminating the fender-benders and near-misses prevalent at that location.

The project won’t be completed in time for the Groovy Grapes Wine Walk Saturday, April 16, but Fuqua Construction wil provide a crossing area a Farquhar and officers from the Navasota Police Department will be on-site to assist with crossing the street

View city council meetings in their entirety at www.navasotatx.gov/city-council/pages/meeting-videos.