Mesquite drivers are getting ready for what they call a detour nightmare on a road with a long history of repair problems.
The city is shutting down the Lawson Road Bridge from East Cartwright Road to Clay Mathis Road for five months beginning Monday.
Mesquite is replacing the Lawson Road Bridge after an a Texas Department of Transportation inspection found it severely corroding.
"The repair will make the bridge safer and will provide the citizens with a structure that will provide many years of reliable service," city spokesman Wayne Larson said in a statement.
The city said the cost of the bridge is $409,654.
Kendrick Goree said the pressure is on to find an alternative route.
"It's going to be a great inconvenience," he said."We're going to be spending more gas, we're going to be spending more time. Normally it's 15 minutes that my wife saves in the morning; now she's going to lose 15 minutes."
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But Melody Derting said the construction was welcome because repairs on the road is long overdue.
"I just avoid Lawson because it's a terrible road," she said. "It's horrible."
Northbound traffic on Lawson Road will detour at Cartwright Road to Edwards-Church Road to Clay Mathis Road and then back to Lawson. Southbound traffic on Lawson Road will detour at Clay Mathis Road to Edwards-Church Road to Cartwright Road and back to Lawson.
Brad Green said he worries customers won't want to take the detour to get to his restaurants. Business had doubled since the road reopened after years in July.
"We just got it open," he said. "We're used to Lawson being open. Now that they're closing, it's just another impact of the businesses around here and residents."
