Portion of McKnight Road in Texarkana to be Widened This Year

An almost 1 mile section of McKnight Road in Texarkana, Texas is set to be widened before 2017 is over.

According to plans approved by the Texas Department of Transportation, a 0.9 mile section of Farm-to-Market Road 1297, known as McKnight Road, will be widened during the next few months.

"We will be widening the section of the road between University Avenue and Richmond Road. The current highway is 24 feet wide and we will be widening it to 44 feet," said Kenny Icenhower, area engineer for TxDOT in Texarkana. "We will be adding a 14-foot turn lane in the middle, three-foot paved shoulders on each side, and then resurfacing the entire highway."

Two drainage structures on this section of highway will also be replaced requiring the roadway to be closed for a couple days for each structure. TxDOT says this work will be planned for the weekend in order to impact local traffic less.

H.V. Caver, Inc. of Atlanta, Texas was awarded the contract for the project with a bid of $2.7 million.

TxDOT officials say work on the project should begin in March and take about six months to complete.