TRANSPORTATION
Top transportation stories to watch in 2023
2023 ANNUAL COMMUNITY GUIDE
Houston faces large road striping backlog in 2023
OTHER PROJECTS TO FOLLOW IN 2023
PAVING PROBLEMS Requests to address inadequate paving in the southwest Houston area have been made around Rice Village, Braeswood Place and Brays Oaks. W E S T H E I M E R R D .
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BY LEAH FOREMAN
Roads without adequate striping to identify lanes are raising concerns about safety for several members of Houston City Council. Public data from the city of Houston showed more than 300 calls to the city’s 311 line to address striping dating back to March 2020. However, Erin Jones, interim communications director with the Houston Public Works Department, disputed the use of the word “backlog” to describe the situation. She said some proposed pavement projects may not have met a “service level agreement”—a time frame that has been agreed upon among the mayor, City Council and the city departments on how long they have to ful ll those requests. “So it may be considered a backlog in some areas and then others they just may not have met the service level agreement,” she said. At-Large Council Member Sallie Alcorn, who has been looking into the issue, said she received a statement from the public works department, a copy of which was provided to Community Impact. “The tra c markings requests that cannot be per- formed in-house ... are performed by a contract (outside contractors), and the contract is not currently active
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Brays Bayou trail design New trails along Brays Bayou from Hermann Park to South Rice Avenue are under review by the Army Corps of Engineers. Preliminary design work began this fall on trails from South Rice to Chimney Rock Road. Among other improvements, the Houston Parks Board Bayou Greenways project seeks to replace 8-foot asphalt trails with 10-foot concrete trails on both sides of the bayou where possible. Timeline: TBD Cost: TBD Funding source: Houston Parks Board
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SOURCE: HOUSTON PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT COMMUNITY IMPACT
due to legal issues. [Transportation and Drainage Operations] is working diligently to resolve this situation and expects to resume the pavement marking program soon,” the statement read. At a Nov. 9 meeting where the issue was discussed, Mayor Sylvester Turner said it was the rst he had heard of the issue. “I’m a little embarrassed by this conversation, I will tell you,” Turner said. Jones said the public works department had over 700 requests for pavement markings in March 2020. Since then, 2,476 pave- ment markings have been completed.
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Work on Loop 610 feeder road bridge to start in January
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construction requires half of the bridge to be demolished and will only leave enough room for one lane to remain open across the bridge,” TxDOT Public Information O cer Emily Black said in an email to Community Impact . Once the rst new half of the bridge is built, there will be enough room to open two lanes, Black said. Lanes will be widened from 11 to 12 feet; sidewalks will be widened from 4 to 6 feet; and shoulders will be added.
BY MELISSA ENAJE
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A southbound bridge along Loop 610 over Brays Bayou in southwest Houston was set for demolition start- ing Jan. 9, as of press time Jan. 5. Houstonians planning to travel in the area can anticipate some delays as lane closures are expected, according to o cials with the Texas Department of Transportation, which is working to put a new, wider bridge at the site. “The rst main phase of
Bu alo Speedway improvements Paving and drainage work on Bu alo Speedway will wrap up in early 2023, including the installation of underground conduits and brick pavers. Timeline: October 2018-March 2023 Cost: $23 million Funding sources: West University Place, federal grants
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The project is estimated to cost more than $3 million with a completion date in late 2023.
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BELLAIRE MEYERLAND WEST UNIVERSITY EDITION • JANUARY 2023
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