Construction is set to continue for several months on a project that will widen both lanes of Farm-to-Market Road 580 West for about 1.8 miles west of Lampasas and add two-foot-wide shoulders on both sides of the road. PHOTO BY DAVID LOWE A Texas Department of Transportation construction project will give drivers a little extra space on Farm-to-Market Road 580 West.

The road work, funded by bonds approved in 2003 as part of Proposition 14, will widen the two-lane FM 580 from just east of its intersection with Saul Street to a tenth of a mile west of the FM 580 West and FM 1494 intersection.

The eastbound lane and westbound lane will be widened from 11 feet to 12 feet each, and work crews will construct two-foot-wide protective shoulders on both sides of the road.

“Eleven feet is really narrow ...” for a heavily traveled farm-to-market road, said Sandra Parker, spokeswoman for TxDOT’s Brownwood District, which includes Lampasas County. “We’re trying to get them all to 12 feet wide with a shoulder.”

Construction, scheduled to continue for another five to seven months, will begin on the north side of the road.

Travel lanes will be narrowed to 10 feet, and drivers will be redirected to the south side of FM 580 as work progresses on the north side, Mrs. Parker said.

Construction later will shift to the south side of the roadway, and drivers will be directed to the north.

The district spokeswoman encouraged motorists to exercise caution as they travel through the work zone.

“We need everybody to slow down,” she said.

Signs along FM 580 West indicate that passing is prohibited and that traffic fines are doubled when workers are present.

The speed limit along the road varies from 35 miles per hour within Lampasas city limits to 45 mph just outside the city to 55 mph farther west of town.

TxDOT awarded the FM 580 widening project to Prater Equipment Inc. of Comanche County for $470,164.