CEDAR CREEK LAKE–The replacement of the State Highway 198 (SH 198) single-span 1960s-era Clear Creek bridge over Cedar Creek Lake – which started spring 2021 – is inching closer to completion, according to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).
TxDOT told The Monitor March 22 that the agency had plans to switch SH 198 traffic over the new bridge as early as the following week, depending on weather conditions. That hadn’t happened as of March 28.
For motorists, a snafu cropped up in the overnight hours of March 21-22. What started as single lanes of traffic alternating crossing the old bridge became a complete closure. Traffic was detoured from Payne Springs to near Eustace and through Log Cabin before rejoining the main lanes of SH 198 and continuing through Caney City (and vice versa).
The ground underneath the north causeway approaching the bridge area has been the problem, TxDOT Tyler District Public Information Officer Jeff Williford said. The TxDOT district engineer decided the causeway’s repair project needed more room to operate, Williford stated. That reduced one lane of alternating traffic to total closure.
“The issue is on the causeway, it’s not the bridge itself. The bridge is fine,” Williford said.
TxDOT announced originally on social media that the closure would continue through March 24, weather permitting. That goal didn’t materialize, as the bridge area continued to be closed to traffic as of press time March 28.
Rain fell across the area Friday, March 24; thunderstorms are in the cards Thursday, March 30 and into Friday, March 31, according to the March 27 AccuWeather forecast.
May 2, 2021, TxDOT set the anticipated completion date for the bridge project as fall 2023. That has been changed to spring 2024, according to the March 27 TxDOT update.