Interstate 10, Highway 87 at new plant to have traffic changes

Two big traffic changes are scheduled for Orange County, one on Interstate 10 and the other on Highway 87 between Bridge City and the new Golden Triangle Polymers plant site.

Orange County Commissioner Johnny Trahan announced at Commissioners Court Tuesday that the Texas Department of Transportation will be having lane closures on the interstate this weekend in Orange.

The closures will be from 8 p.m. Friday, June 9, through 5 a.m. Monday, June 12. The eastbound traffic lanes will be closed from the Whippoorwill Street entrance ramp to 16th Street. Traffic will be down to one lane on the feeder road. Also, one lane of westbound traffic will be closed with lanes alternated.

Golden Triangle Polymers, the $8.5 billion petrochemical plant being built by Chevron Phillips and Qatar Energy, is setting new traffic routes on Highway 87 at the Cow Bayou Bridge in Bridge City beginning on Monday and going through Tuesday.

The company will be widening lanes of the highway to accommodate the heavy haul trucks that will be transporting the module pieces of the new plant, which will be barged down Cow Bayou. Digital message boards have been flashing information about the traffic for the past two weeks.

The company describes heavy haul loads as those exceeding 55,000 pounds. The company has already set Gate 2 along Highway 87, across from the Orange County Airport between Bridge City and Orange as the entrance for trucks. Highway lanes there have been widened and one lane of traffic has been set aside for the trucks by a concrete barrier.

The company said heavy haul trucks must remain in the right lane. In addition, trucks leaving the site at Gate 2 must turn right and travel on North Highway 87, rather than try to cross traffic lanes.

The time schedule for the heavy loads is set for October this year until April 2025. Chevron Phillips has bought property along Cow Bayou and is building a barge unloading site. An estimated 200 barge transfers are expected for the 350 modules of the plant.