SER Construction Partners LLC is set to deliver in 2026 the Texas Department of Transportation's (TxDOT) $91.5 million reconstruction and widening of a 4.5-mi. section of State Highway 105 between State Loop 336 and Farm-to-Market 1484 in greater Houston.
The project began on Feb. 15, 2023.
SER Construction photo
Crews are widening the highway from one lane in each direction to two lanes with continuously reinforced concrete pavement — removing all existing pavement and bridges; installing new water lines and associated earthwork and roadway drainage; constructing four new bridges; setting up multiple traffic-signalized intersections; and completing additional elements.
The project overcame some hurdles.
"There were numerous existing utilities — power, natural gas and data/communication providers that had existing facilities that were required to be relocated within the expanded public right-of-way in order to accommodate the construction activities associated with the planned construction of the widening of SH 105," said Scott M. Ashmore, SER's senior project manager. "Many of the facilities that were anticipated to be relocated prior to the start of the project's construction remained to be adjusted when construction began.
"The project was allotted 725 working days," he added. "The project progressed very well … with 90 percent of the work completed when 61 percent of the contract time had been utilized."
To aid with utility relocations, TxDOT had a third-party management firm serve as a utility coordinator.
"SER worked very closely with TxDOT and TxDOT's third-party construction engineering and inspection firm, LJA Engineering," Ashmore said. "SER and TxDOT representatives had separate on-site field office facilities that were set up on the same property, which made for quick and convenient access to one another and resulted in many project dilemmas and field issues being resolved at the lowest level possible."
SER Construction photo
The weather also was a factor, such as flooding in the spring of 2024, Hurricane Beryl in the summer of 2025 and a severe snow and ice storm and wildfires in the Pauline Road area in the spring.
Before reconstructing the existing lanes, SER crews built new lanes and shoulders.
"Among the first construction activities on the project was the construction of a temporary drainage features and temporary detour pavement lane that was constructed for the entire length of the project," Ashmore said.
Salvaging Crucial
"A key to SER's approach to the project was a focus on salvaging and repurposing as much of the existing roadway material removed from the old roadway as possible and economically reincorporating it into the construction of the new highway," he added. "To that end, a 23-acre site was secured along the project corridor that was established to store/stockpile, process and produce products for the project. Throughout the life of the project, there were nearly continuous operations that included a crushing operation, a trommel screening operation, a pugmill operation and a concrete batch plant operation."
From the ground up, the typical roadway pavement and base section of the lanes consists of a 6-in. layer of cement-treated earth subgrade, a 6-in. plant-mixed cement-treated aggregate base layer roller compacted in place, a 1-in. hot-mix asphalt base bond breaker and a 10-in. continuously reinforced concrete pavement section.
On a typical day, the concrete paving crew would place roughly 2,000 linear ft. of roadway.
SER Construction photo
"In most cases, early strength test results would be sufficient to permit access to and use of the concrete pavement within three calendar days," Ashmore said. "Paving shifts typically started during the early morning hours. Ice was routinely added to the concrete mix at the batch plant during periods of high temperatures in order to control the concrete's temperature during placement."
The concrete pavement was placed with a fleet of Gomaco equipment including a GP-600 slipform paver, a PS-2600 placer/spreader and a TC-600 Texture/Cure machine. A Gomaco C-450 bridge deck finisher was used on the bridge concrete deck pours.
Bridging the Gap
The four new concrete girder-type bridges were constructed to a width of 111 ft., with a center auxiliary lane, two through traffic lanes with a full shoulder for both eastbound and westbound traffic and a full pedestrian sidewalk on either side of each bridge.
Slightly more than 5,000 linear ft. of TxDOT TY C223 bridge rail was constructed as a component of the project's bridge structures two lanes in each direction at Crystal Creek. The East Fork bridge is 191 ft. long, the Hurricane Creek bridge is 67 ft. long, the Caney Creek bridge is 651 ft. long and the Cagle Branch Creek bridge is 117 ft. long.
"Each of the project's four bridges crossed waterways that were not to be disturbed and posed challenges to the use and placement of cranes needed to set the 132,000-lb. Tx62 girders," Ashmore said.
Bridge construction time varied widely depending on which bridge and which phase was being constructed.
"The first phase of each bridge involved the construction of the 39-ft. width of each bridge, while the subsequent phases involved the construction of the remaining 72-ft. width of each bridge," Ashmore said.
All of the bridges included the installation of drill shaft concrete foundations ranging from 18 in. to 72 in. in diameter and depths of up to 91 ft. below the natural ground surface elevation. Prestressed concrete girders were manufactured at an offsite location and transported to the project for placement. In total, there was 13,280 linear ft. of girders that were comprised of Tx28, Tx34, Tx54 and Tx62.
SER Construction photo
The bridges over Hurricane Creek and Cagle Branch Creek were designed with interlocking prestressed concrete sheet pile driven adjacent to the respective channels to provide an additional level of scour protection to the structure's abutments. Concrete sheets 2-ft. wide by 1 ft. thick and up to 41 ft. long, totaling 18,400 sq. ft., were driven with a diesel piledriving hammer.
The existing bridge structures were demolished by SER crews equipped with hydraulic breakers and demolition jaws mounted on crawler excavators.
"It was necessary to remove portions of the existing bridges in order to provide sufficient room to construct the first phase of the new bridges," Ashmore said. "Once the first phase of the new bridges was opened to traffic the remainder of the existing bridges were demolished to make way for the completion of the construction of the new bridges."
Most of the general underground, earthwork and subbase layer's construction was performed with the use of SER's fleet of Cat equipment represented and serviced by the Houston area's Mustang Cat.
The new waterline and associated earthwork and roadway drainage consisted of 40,000 linear ft. of waterline installation and drainage installation, including nearly 23,000 linear ft. of concrete box culvert of varying sizes up to 8-ft.-by-5-ft., and nearly 20,000 linear ft. of reinforced concrete pipe of varying sizes up to 48 in. in diameter.
"Replacing nearly 7.5 mi. of water line and installing over 100 individual property service connections to everything from a house to a business and to a large public school required significant coordination," said Ashmore, who noted that PVC pipe was used for the water line.
Batch Plant Set Up
To expedite the work, SER Construction set up an Odisa 12LP concrete batch plant that was bought through Mid-States Aggregate Equipment, using 11 ready-mix concrete trucks.
SER Construction photo
On a typical day, SER would have more than 75 employees working on the site and three to six subcontractors working there with up to 40 employees.
SER brought in drill shaft construction, pavement demolition milling, traffic signalization, permanent pavement markings, small roadway signage, reinforcement steel tying, pavement joint sawing and sealing and sod/seed/fertilizer subcontractors.
Demolition and excavation of the existing roadway generated more than 150,000 tons of concrete, asphalt and roadway subbase materials containing asphalt pavement and iron ore subbase.
"All existing roadway pavement and base materials removed from the existing roadway were reused on the project," Ashmore said.
Products such as cement, fly ash, limestone aggregate and concrete sand were delivered to the batch plant and used to produce more than 75,000 cu. yds. of ready-mix concrete.
A McCloskey 621 RE Trommel was bought from McCourt Equipment Inc. for material screening applications. A Pugmill Systems BT750 Pugmill was erected at the project's construction yard. A Kleemann MR130 crusher was rented from Nueces Power Equipment.
The work took its toll on the equipment.
"Typically, SER had a mechanic on site that performed equipment maintenance and repairs," Ashmore said. "Having routine wear items on hand and utilizing specialized chemicals to help keep equipment that transports, handles and places concrete as clean as possible is key to long-term maintenance on a construction site." CEG
