Next phase of Melissa Road reconstruction set to start

Installation of infrastructure to close street intermittently

MELISSA (June 22, 2021) The completion of the transformation of Melissa Road from a two-lane asphalt roadway to a modern, concrete thoroughfare providing quick and easy access to points east and west enters another phase on Monday, June 28.

                For approximately six weeks starting on Monday, contractors will be installing the underground storm sewer system along the two sides of the roadbed from Sherman Street to SH 121. An integral part of the street’s infrastructure, these improvements will allow for the efficient removal of rainwater collected in the gutters along street curbs, rendering the road safer for vehicles and pedestrians.           

                That portion of Melissa Road will be inaccessible to through traffic each day starting on Monday and continuing until early August from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. While traffic may enter the roadway outside of these times, caution is highly advised.

                During the construction times, motorists will be required to find alternate routes between SH 121 and SH 5.

                Access to the Melissa US Post Office will remain open along Miller Road. Similarly, the Melissa Fire Department has developed coordination plans with the contractor to ensure that emergency vehicles will not be hindered when entering or exiting the fire station, utilizing Miller Road when necessary.

                The work will also temporarily close Fannin Road from SH 5 eastward, as the construction will render that section a no-throughway dead-end.

                Once this system is installed underground along this segment of the Melissa Road construction, it will be connected on both ends to the existing culverts at Dallas Street, completing the uninterrupted linkage of the storm water collection system.

                The completion of storm sewer installation in August will signal the start of the next phase of Melissa Road’s transformation, providing yet another major east-west thoroughfare. In the future, the reconstruction of Harrison Street from SH 5 to Washington Drive will provide one more alternate east-west access road.