The Federal Highway Administration has earmarked about $1.7 million in emergency relief funds for repairs to the State Highway 91 Bridge in Texas. Scheduled for consideration in February the project was moved up to December thanks to the efforts of District Engineer Paul Montgomery.
“We stand by communities that have been impacted by natural disaster and other emergencies,” said Department of Transportation Secretary Foxx in a press release earlier this month. “These funds will allow states to complete projects that are ready to go, and that will allow people to travel and resume their daily lives as soon as possible.”
State Highway 91 runs 13 miles from Sherman through Denison to the Oklahoma border at Denison Dam. There it connects with Oklahoma State Highway 91. The State Hwy 91 Bridge was washed out during the flooding earlier this summer.
The rushing waters of the Shawnee Creek fed by the Dam Spillway left a cavity approximately 256 feet wide and 23 feet deep. “Emergency relief funding is an integral part of the federal-aid program,” said Federal Highway Administrator Gregory Nadeau. “Part of our mission is to help states get back on track by restoring broken transportation links when disaster strikes.”
The repairs will be a joint endeavor by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and TXDOT. The Corps will be responsible for the funding and TXDOT will manage the construction and design. "The amount of water, velocity, and the flow that came over the auxiliary spillway and came through the Shawnee Creek has changed the landscape of this area tremendously," said Assistant Project Manager of Lake Texoma, B.J. Parkey with the Army Corps of Engineers. What was once a little tributary is now something much different. It is anticipated that repairs will be complete by the summer of 2016.
