DIBOLL, TX — Texas Transportation Commissioners recently gave final approval for Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) construction of the $140.9-million Diboll Relief Route in Angelina County.

The US 59 Diboll Relief Route will extend east of Diboll, Texas, and Burke, Texas, from FM 2108 to 1.15 miles south of White Oak Creek. Sacyr Construction USA LLC, from Miami, Florida, will serve as contractor for the project that is set to begin in early 2020 and is scheduled to be completed in about five years.

The relief route will meet interstate design standards and will serve as the primary evacuation route for this section of US 59. It will also serve as a relief route for vehicles transporting freight and efficiently move vehicular traffic along the US 59 corridor. Resolutions supporting the relief route were approved by Angelina County Commissioners in 2016, and the City of Burke and the City of Diboll in 2017.

The project has been in the planning stages for many years. The first schematics and environmental studies were done in 1999 but were halted because of budgetary constraints. After being identified as a top priority in Angelina County for the development of Interstate 69, the project was revived in 2013. There have been several stakeholder meetings and open houses for the public to view the designs that were approved for construction.

Schematic designs and the environmental re-evaluation for the Diboll Relief Route were approved in 2016, and right-of-way acquisitions were completed and utility relocations started in early 2019.

This section of US 59 is one of several current or planned projects designed to upgrade the roadway to interstate (I69) standard located in Angelina, Nacogdoches, Polk and San Jacinto counties. I69 is a proposed national interstate that extends from Mexico to Michigan.

Federal legislation authorized the development of the I69 system in Texas along specified U.S. routes. The Lufkin District serves nine counties and within the district those specified routes include US 59 between Shepherd and Tenaha and US 84 between Tenaha and Joaquin, totaling 150 miles.