Highway 87 traffic change next week for CP modules

People driving between Bridge City and Orange next week will get another major inconvenience for the sake of economic growth. The new Chevron Phillips chemical plant construction is forcing traffic lane closings along State Highway 87.

The $8.5 billion plant is under construction on 2,000 acres with frontage along Highway 87 between FM 1006 and Foreman Road. The plant is a project by Chevron Phillips and Qatar Energy and will be moving giant modules to the new site.

The northbound lanes for Highway 87 will be closed during certain hours from Bridge City High School to the plant entrance across from the Orange County Airport.

The lane closures will be from Monday, November 6, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and then repeated for the same hours on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of the week.

The modules are being shipped from different countries across the world to the Gulf of Mexico and Sabine Lake to Cow Bayou. The modules are landing at the company's new barge dock on Cow Bayou on the south side of the Highway 87 Cow Bayou Bridge.

The first of the modules was shipped to dock earlier this month. From the dock, the modules will be moved by "heavy haul" trucks made for loads of 55,000 pounds. The construction of lane changes in that section during the past few months were made to allow the heavy haul trucks and modules.

The barge dock is about one mile from the construction site main gate.

This will be the first of the lane closures. The website for the CP Golden Triangle Polymers Plant says more than 400 of the modules will be shipped by barge and then hauled to the construction site.

During next week's traffic changes, the northbound lane of Highway 87 will have a detour in front of Bridge City High School. The traffic will be rerouted into the southbound lane at Farm Drive. The southbound (Orange to Bridge City) traffic on Highway 87 will turn into a two-way highway, with one lane in each direction, at Highway 62.

After Highway 62, motorists will use the southbound lane of Highway 87 for traveling south only.

The Victory Gardens residential area off Highway 87 outside of Bridge City, will be one of the areas most affected by the traffic changes. Earlier this month, representatives with Golden Triangle Polymers held a neighborhood meeting for people living in the area to explain the changes and guarantee access.

The company's website said all residences and businesses within the area that will be barricade to through traffic will be able to get to their sites. They can get to their property from Berwick Drive, or by getting the help of one of the flaggers out for the heavy haul to help them cross the northbound lane.