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Upper Kirby Update
October 12, 2012
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| Richmond Drainage Improvements: More Concrete, More Open Lanes This Week |
Richmond
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Junction Box Construction on Richmond
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Construction
Traffic conditions will continue to improve on Richmond Avenue this week. Workers have been progressing quickly in an effort to restore Richmond following the recent completion of new storm sewer installation from Kirby Drive to Buffalo Speedway.
Nearly 500-feet of roadway was opened up just west of Audley last Friday allowing for through and turning movements to return to Audley over a week ahead of schedule. Since, workers have been prepping the roadway west of Audley to Buffalo Speedway with the goal of placing concrete next week. That could mean unobstructed traffic lanes through from Wakeforest to Buffalo Speedway as early as the following week.
On the east side of the project area, the concrete placement over the recently built Kirby junction box was pushed from last Monday to the coming Monday due to concrete crew availability. This section is scheduled to be poured on Monday and could be reopened all the way to just east of Wakeforest by the end of next week.
New inlet construction, however, still remains at Lake Street to connect the new storm sewer to the inlets on the south side of Richmond. The Lake Street median cut will remain closed until this inlet work is complete. Crews will use one eastbound lane at a time on Richmond during off peak hours working from the new storm line to the south side of Richmond to construct the inlet lead. Impacts to Richmond traffic will be minimal.
Restoration work will also begin next week on the Audley lateral line extending north of Richmond. Pavement preparation and some demolition work is scheduled with the goal of pouring concrete on the 25th of October. Because Audley is narrower than Eastside, it will not be possible to maintain two way traffic on Audley between Richmond and West Alabama during this phase of work. Traffic will be limited to one lane northbound and southbound traffic will be detoured to Eastside or Buffalo Speedway.
Norfolk west of Eastside has now been poured save for some small areas where water line connections still remain to be made. The leave-outs are a result of pending chlorination reports still not received from the City. It is expected that these reports are received later today or Monday meaning full restoration could occur as early as next Thursday/Friday or as late as the following Monday/Tuesday.
Work on the Wakeforest junction box connecting the new storm system on Richmond to the Wakeforest storm sewer will be ongoing over the next several weeks as well as work on storm inlet leads at intersecting side streets throughout the project area. Look for further updates on this work as the project progresses.
The Richmond Drainage Improvement Project between Kirby and Buffalo Speedway is one of two remaining systems still needing upgrades that feeds into the recently updated Kirby storm system and moves water south to Braes Bayou. The project will entail the installation of a new 6-foot storm drain to provide additional underground capacity and upgraded lateral systems and inlets on Eastside and Audley all aimed at addressing the serious flooding issues this stretch of Richmond is known to experience.
Buffalo Speedway
Following the completion of construction on Buffalo Speedway, a significant water line leak was identified at the northwest area of the intersection. The leak required pavement to be removed in order to fix the issue. Restoration of this work is scheduled to begin tonight and will extend through early Monday morning. The pavement will be removed and replaced, not patched, and temporary material will be used to fill in the brick crosswalk until brick installation is scheduled. Brick restoration will be scheduled during off-peak hours some time next week.
This work will impact both east/west traffic on Bissonnet and north/south traffic on Buffalo Speedway narrowing through traffic down to one lane around the short construction area.
Please be on the lookout for further updates as work progresses. For more information on Upper Kirby construction projects and for issues and concerns as construction progresses, contact Travis Younkin at 713.524.8000 or email travis@upperkirby.org.
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