TRANSPORTATION
Top transportation stories to watch in 2023
Houston faces large road striping backlog in 2023 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 fulll 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 trac markings requests that cannot be
OTHER PROJECTS TO FOLLOW IN 2023
PAVING PROBLEMS Requests to address inadequate paving in the Greater Houston area have been made around the Willowbrook and north Houston areas.
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Striping requests
Lane line Center line
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1960
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WILLOW CHASE BLVD.
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I-45 bridge replacement Work is underway on a project to replace the I-45 southbound frontage road bridge over Cypress Creek, which has been closed since March due to safety concerns. The project’s cost has increased from $6.7 million to $8.6 million due to increased material costs as well as costs to expedite the project to be completed by summer 2023 instead of March 2024. Timeline: March 2022-summer 2023 Cost: $8.6 million Funding source: Texas Department of Transportation
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SOURCE: HOUSTON PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT COMMUNITY IMPACT
performed in-house ... are performed by a contract (outside contractors), and the contract is not currently active 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. Jones said public works had over 700 requests for pavement markings in March 2020; 2,476 have since been completed. Data shows seven of those striping requests are located in the Willowbrook and north Houston areas near Spring.
CENTERFIELD DR.
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BRETON RIDGE ST.
Grand Parkway expansion to begin in fall 2023 and the new lanes—one in each BY HANNAH BROL
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WILLOWBROOK DR.
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Segment B
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FM 1960 widening A project to expand FM 1960 between Centereld Drive and Cutten Road is scheduled to go out for bids in August. The project will add a through lane east- and westbound on FM 1960 from the Willowbrook Mall center entrance to Cutten Road and add new pavement, continuous sidewalks, trac signals and drainage improvements. Timeline: advertising for bids in August, construction in 28 months Cost: $20 million Funding sources: 80% federal, 20% state
Segment A
Construction on a project to expand the F-2 segment of the Grand Parkway is expected to begin this fall, according to ocials with the Texas Department of Transportation. As previously reported by Community Impact , the project will expand the Grand Parkway from four to six lanes between Hwy. 249 in Tomball and Holzwarth Road in Spring. According to TxDOT ocials, the tollway’s four existing lanes will be kept in operation during the project,
direction—will be expanded inward, reducing the impact construction will have on the surrounding area. The two-part project will be completed in two segments. Segment A, which runs from Hwy. 249 to Kuykendahl Road, is expected to begin advertising for bids in August and will take 42 months to complete at a cost of $63 million. Segment B, which runs from Kuykendahl Road to Holzwarth Road, will advertise for bids in October 2024 and take 36 months to complete
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HOLZWARTH RD.
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at a cost of $38 million. According to TxDOT ocials, the expansion is needed for the tollway to maintain a specic level of service as data shows average annual daily trac increased by more than 50% from F-2’s opening in 2016 to 2019—increasing from 43,358 to 65,779 in that timespan.
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