By Shannon Myers
Correspondent

The ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly reconstructed Amy Lane commenced Wednesday morning by the intersection of E. Bee Line Lane and S. Amy Lane.
Mayor Roy Robinson, council members, staff from Public Works, Parks and Recreation, Chamber of Commerce, the construction and engineer teams, and businesses and residents along the street, and others were in attendance to celebrate the changes made to the busy street.
“Amy Lane is one of four north to south collectors on the north side of the city,” said Harker Heights Public Works Director, Mark Hide. “It’s very important for the residential and commercial traffic. This street is one of the main gateways into Market Heights and we wanted to do something to improve that.”
McLean Construction, Inc. was awarded the project was on Febuary 10, 2015. The engineer team was Walker Partners.
The construction project began June 8, 2015 and was scheduled to be completed in March of 2016. However, due to the particularly wet spring and the high volume of traffic, the project wasn’t completed till August.
“It’s a really big improvement. The work that’s gone in to it, it needed it for driving, safety, erosion, so many elements. So, the city did a really great job,” said Gina Pence, executive director of the Harker Heights Chamber of Commerce.
The reconstruction cost was $2,297,988.40, funded by the 2014 Certificates of Obligation.
Amy Lane street section was widened to 29 feet and increased to 36 feet at the intersections. The section of road reconstructed stretches from Indian Oaks to Veteran’s Memorial, a distance of eight-tenths of a mile.
The street previously had only surface drainage that would run off into the swells. With the improvements, the storm water and runoff is more controlled by the underground drainage, curb and gutter additions.
On each side of the intersection, a dedicated left hand turn lane with a raised medium, filled with patterned brick was placed. The new turn lane and raised medium will help to encourage slower speeds through the intersections and help conduct traffic.
“There has been much improvement on this roadway. It will increase the efficiency of traveling through but also to make it safer,” said Harker Heights Deputy Fire Chief, Glenn Gallenstein. “We got a lot of people who come through this area and with the new features… it will help with the flow of traffic by decreasing back up.”
Five-foot sidewalks will be added to both sides of the street in the coming months. The sidewalk will be extremely benefitial to the pedestrians using the HOP stop near the intersection.
Councilmember, Spencer Smith spoke to a Harker Heights resident stating the street is used frequently by people not just walking to buy their groceries at the nearby HEB, but also by several of the HEB employees who regularly use the bus stop to get to work.
The eventual side walk will make it safer for the foot traffic on this street. To me, that’s doing the right thing by the people, said Smith.