Road to progress filled with work

Hard as it is to believe, the rumbling up and down 16th Street and the deforestation of MacArthur Drive bodes well for the city of Orange.

Add to it the tractors and large pipes behind the Whataburger on I-10 and it all smells like Progress.

The Texas Department of Transportation has a lifetime gig in Orange County, for sure. Just on the interstate alone.

But one of the new projects represents a $2 million investment in 16th Street, which city fathers hope will be an uber attractive gateway into the city.

Of course, TxDOT will need to finish redoing the bridge and expanding the I-10 roadway from Louisiana to Texas first.

But the resurfacing of two miles of 16th Street, being done at night, will be helped along by a $190,000 traffic signal improvement at Park Street.

And then there's MacArthur Drive, which is getting sidewalks installed, part of a $537,000 TxDOT project.

Making room for the sidewalks means eliminating the trees that used to shade the parking lot vendors.

"We start on the lighting next month," said Sarah Dupre, TxDOT Public Information Officer. "The project is scheduled to be completed in the spring."

Meanwhile, at the site of the yet-to-be-finalized Gisela Houseman Medical Center, just east of the I-10 intersection at Highway 62, tractors are rolling.

Beaumont construction company Allco, contractor or the City of Orange, is busy at work on the $1 million Eagle Point Parkway, which will provide access to the 20-acre site.