By Ginger Broomes

The Orange Leader

The South East Texas Regional Planning Commission hosted a meeting Thursday at the Orange Public Library as part of a series of meetings designed to inform the public about proposed transportation improvement projects planned for the southeast Texas region. The public was encouraged to attend in the hopes of soliciting opinions on these current and upcoming projects.

Bob Dickinson with the SETRPC headed the meeting complete with detailed handouts and displays. Jefferson, Hardin and Orange Counties were represented, with projects ranging from bridge replacement on local roads, Interstate 10 construction, improvements of off ramps and on ramps and roadway resurfacing projects. Most of the projects are in progress already and a few have just now received funding to proceed and have not yet begun.

One of the projects that would have interested Orange residents was the Adams Bayou to Sabine River construction and replacement of the bridges along Interstate 10, running through Orange and 16^th Street. The project is listed as 53-percent complete on one of the maps provided to Dickinson from TXDOT.

“That’s part of the project,” Dickinson said. “Once the bridges are replaced they’re going to change it from 4-lane to 6-lanes.”

He said the goal of these projects was not to inconvenience anyone but to improve congestion issues and safety, and that this area of Texas has had more projects approved and funded by TXDOT than many other areas in Texas.

No members of the public, however, attended the meeting.