KERRVILLE, Texas – In the aftermath of the devastating floods in the Hill Country on July 4, crews from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) responded to assist with recovery and restoration efforts.
TxDOT crews helped clear debris and start repaving roads and guardrails that the raging floodwaters had completely washed away.
Stretches of Highway 39 and FM 1340 lost chunks of pavement and guardrails, specifically along low water crossings.
Days after the flooding, crews came upon a low water crossing near Hunt that had a mangled guardrail still attached to the road.
The metal guardrail was twisted beyond recognition, resembling a strip of duct tape that had been twisted into a knot. It was a sight TxDOT officials had never witnessed.
“This one looks more like a towel that got rung. One end was basically fixed, and the other end was getting battered and twisted,” said TxDOT San Antonio District Engineer Charles Benavidez. “When the water started to go through the low water crossing, the force twisted it over and over. In the 20 years that I’ve been at TxDOT, I haven’t seen that happen before.”
Benavidez told TheTXLoop the twisted guardrail was indicative of some other damage crews came across, but not to that extent.
“We see how powerful the water is at some of these low water crossings. This is a good indicator of what you saw out there. A lot of our guardrail was damaged, and things we’ve got to fix, such as signs, pavement,” Benavidez said.
Crews have also worked in the days after the flood to check the structural integrity of bridges and overpasses.
“We’re kind of taken aback by the amount of debris and devastation we saw,” Benavidez said. The big priority was ensuring that, one, our roads were passable for first responders, assist where we could. At some point, we were down here with chainsaws working with agencies, ensuring that rescue efforts were first priority. We saw a lot of layers of our top surface washed away. We saw some culverts and washouts around some of our drainage structures.”
Benavidez noted that Highway 39 and FM 1340 would remain closed to the general public for weeks while crews continue to survey the damage. Highway 39 is where crews located the twisted metal.
“On Highway 39, we (have) got pockets of road that have pavement that’s washed off that we’re in the process of fixing. And FM 1340, we’ve got a lot of culverts that had washout around them. Things that protect some of those low water crossings. We’ll have to go back and fix signage and other things,” said Benavidez.
He added that this restoration effort resembles what TxDOT crews saw during Hurricane Harvey.
“We try to design our roads as safe as possible. But the amount of water that went through there and the velocity that it went through, it really did some damage to our roads that we really hadn’t seen before,” Benavidez said.
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