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Texas Historical Commission
Abstract
In October 2014, an intensive archeological survey was completed in order to inventory and evaluate archeological resources within the footprint of proposed road widening along Fairgrounds Road between Loop 250 and Pecan Avenue in northeast Midland, Midland County, Texas. The archeological area of potential effects (APE) is approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of existing and additional proposed right-of-way. At the time of this investigation, a preferred alignment was still under consideration. Therefore, the entire proposed and existing right-of-way for all alternative alignments was surveyed. The right-of-way reaches a maximum width of approximately 150 feet (ft) or 45.7 meters (m) for a total of 22 acres (ac) including 2 ac of new right-of-way. Depth of impacts in the APE would be limited to less than 3 ft. The work was carried out for the City of Midland under Texas Antiquities Permit 7059 by Chris Dayton and Melissa Green (Principal Investigator) of Cox|McLain Environmental Consulting, Inc. (CMEC), a subcontractor to Dunaway Associates.
Ground surfaces within the APE ranged from low (20 to 40 percent) to highly visible (between 50 and 90 percent). Much of the APE, including the 2 acres of proposed right-of-way, is considered disturbed from the construction and maintenance of Fairgrounds Road, installation of utilities, grading for shoulders and drainage, bioturbation, and erosion. The project corridor is in a mixed open land, commercial/industrial, residential, and recreational area; the Hogan Park and Richland Hills Country Club golf courses abut Fairgrounds Road on the west side. A total of nine shovel test units were excavated where ground visibility was lowest, near the north end of the corridor.
No archeological or other cultural resources were encountered during the survey. One previously recorded archeological site, 41MD34, was mapped near the APE to warrant a revisit. It was found that much of 41MD34 is highly disturbed and/or destroyed. No cultural materials, features, or deposits were noted in the right-of-way near the site nor in the portion of the site that access was granted, and the site appears to be highly disturbed from oil and gas activities.
No materials were collected; therefore, this project generated no archeological materials to be curated. Notes, forms, and other project data will be made permanently available to future researchers at Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) at the University of Texas at Austin as per TAC 26.16 and 26.17.
The Texas Historical Commission (THC) concurred with the findings and recommendations in this report on December 5, 2014.
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