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Agency
Texas Historical Commission
Abstract
From May 4 to 7, 2015, SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) conducted an intensive cultural resources survey with shovel testing and backhoe trenching along approximately 2.8 miles of State Loop (SL) 335 within the southeast portion of Amarillo in Randall County, Texas. The work was conducted in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) [54 U.S.C. § 306108] and the Antiquities Code of Texas [9 N.R.C. 191]. Jon Budd served as Principal Investigator under Texas Antiquities Code Permit No. 7187. The area of potential effects (APE) consists of 35.4 acres of new right-of-way (ROW) and 75.1 acres of existing ROW, a total of approximately 110.5 acres.
Two previous archeological investigations conducted on behalf of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) overlap the eastern and southwestern portions of the APE. The surveys were conducted in 1975 and 1987 and are located along SL 335 east of Interstate Highway (IH) 27 and Farm-to Market Road (FM) 2590 south of FM 2186, respectively (Texas Archeological Sites Atlas [Atlas] 2015). No previously recorded archeological sites, Official Texas Historical Markers, cemeteries, or National Register of Historic Places listed properties are documented with a 1-kilometer radius of the APE (Atlas 2015).
The APE traverses agricultural farmland and urban land that has undergone a moderate level of residential and commercial development within roughly the past decade. In much of the new ROW, agricultural fields afforded abundant surface visibility. A total of 10 backhoe trenches and 27 shovel tests were excavated to assess the potential for buried deposits, none of which were positive for cultural material. No prehistoric or historic cultural material was observed on the ground surface within the APE and no historic structures were encountered. As such, no archeological sites were evaluated by SWCA relative to the current project. The project will have no effect on prehistoric or historic archaeological sites and no additional work is recommended within the APE.
Parcels for which right-of-entry was denied (1.9 acres) were assessed from the adjacent, existing ROW. No additional work is recommended for these areas based the absence of archeological material within the adjacent portions of the APE and the extensive level of disturbance documented within the proposed new ROW on these parcels.
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