TxDOT begins widening 346

A dozer sits idle on Wednesday, as TxDOT's work on 346 was temporarily stalled due to weather.

The Texas Department of Transportation began initial phases of its project to widen FM 346 through Whitehouse on Thursday, Jan. 12.

The project, which calls for FM 346 to be widened to two lanes in each direction plus a continuous center turn lane between FM 2964 to the west and Hagan Road to the east, will add curband gutter and ADA ramps throughout the project and upgrade signals at SH 110 and FM 848.

Construction of the new lanes will be conducted with few planned obstructions to traffic, since the new lanes will be built primarily to the south of the existing highway and out of the way of normal traffic. Once those lanes are completed, traffic will be shifted onto them and the existing lanes will be demolished and rebuilt to match the newly constructed lanes.

Few lane closures are anticipated with the project, and those that do occur will be daytime-only closures between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. so as to not interfere with school traffic.

"We kept school traffic in mind when the plans were under development," said TxDOT public information officer Larry Krantz. "We want to have as small an impact on normal traffic as possible during this project.

The project is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2009.