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Road closures and construction continues in Belton

Posted at 3:35 PM, Jun 01, 2017
and last updated 2018-11-03 15:19:53-04

There is more construction causing detours in Central Texas. 

Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. in Belton closed last week for work on a water line. But, it will now remain closed for at least the entire month of June, maybe longer. 

"We're not gonna be able to turn both ways like we always do,"  Christina Hernandez said.   

Christina Hernandez is a Belton homeowner and is no stranger to road construction. 

"Everyday I drive it, and I don't like the construction. And I don't like the median their gonna put up," Hernandez added.   

Hernandez has lived at the corner of Main St. and 9th... and the intersection of Main St. and Martin Luther King Jr. Ave... for the past 20 years. 

"We've looked into putting medians in this area to prevent traffic from crossing what is becoming an increasingly busy roadway," Paul Romer with the City of Belton said. 

But, the construction project is more than just medians being installed between 8th and 10th St. on Main St., MLK is being widened, too. 

"The construction's going to make the turning movements better out of, when you're heading out of the university and onto Main St," Romer added.  

MLK is heavily traveled on a daily basis, and is one of the main connections between Loop 121, which feeds into Interstate 14, and Main St. 

"Ideally, we'd like to take and expand Main St. and have more lanes to deal with the traffic. That would probably be the best solution, but we're restricted because of historic homes on both sides," Romer said. 

So instead, the city changes the roads leading to Main St. 

"All in all, the construction's been bad," Hernandez said. "Now, all this traffic, but I hope everything smooths out for everybody especially the people that live around 9th St."

Smooth and safe. That's what the city hopes the construction will bring once it's completed toward the end of June. 

"We believe this will be a safer intersection and a better way to travel," Romer added.

This portion of Belton's construction project costs about $250,000. 

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