Upper Kirby District Street Talk
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Westheimer Construction
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Upper Kirby Update

  August 22, 2014  
Upper Kirby Construction
Work on Dickey Underway North of Westheimer
City Work on Shepherd-Avalon to Westheimer  in full Swing   

 

Westheimer  

Paving, Drainage and  Streetscape
Improvements 

Project: 

 

Utility Relocations: Kirby to Buffalo Speedway

Utility tie-ins connecting the new underground facilities with existing north/south feeds along Westheimer will be the final focus of this project. Over the next few weeks, crews will complete connections at Eastside and Belle Meade, followed by final tie-ins at Buffalo Speedway the following week. Eastbound motorists should expect to funnel down to one lane to cross these small work areas. Substantial completion of this project is expected by the end of the month.

Upper Kirby sincerely thanks the businesses along this construction site for their patience and understanding during this important project as well as those patrons who spent a little extra time in traffic to support these unique local businesses.

Once utilities are relocated by the service providers to their new homes underground, drainage and roadway reconstruction can occur. The final phase of work will entail installation of new storm, sanitary and water infrastructure; the complete concrete reconstruction of the roadway, curb and gutter; and a complete pedestrian oriented streetscape installation. This phase is just beginning to the east from Kirby to Shepherd. Construction between Kirby and Buffalo Speedway will not begin until work to the east is complete. If all goes as planned, this section should begin reconstruction this time next year. 

Look for updates as work progresses on Westheimer to the east.

 

Drainage, Paving and Streetscape Improvements:
Shepherd to Kirby

The reconstruction of Westheimer between Shepherd and Kirby began this week at the storm drainage outfall point on Dickey Place where Westheimer water will empty into the Shepherd system via Dickey north to Fairview/Reba and then east into Shepherd where it will travel to Buffalo Bayou. 

Crews began August 18th working from Reba south to Westheimer installing a 4-foot by 6-foot storm drain to replace the 42-inch drain currently running under private properties just west of Dickey. 
 
Crews will only work in small sections beginning with the Reba intersection and working south to Westheimer. No two intersections will be impacted at one time, in fact, intersection work will be done alone and opened up prior the subsequent block being impacted. Neighborhood traffic will be detoured around work areas. This work will include new inlets at intersections and complete concrete restoration of the roadway. Driveways will be impacted as work moves down the street and will be restored with new concrete within the City right-of-way. 

The Upper Kirby District is coordinating this work with the City of Houston drainage and pavement reconstruction on Shepherd between Westheimer and Buffalo Bayou. The City began work between Avalon and Westheimer several weeks ago. While this will be the active construction zone for the next three to four months, motorists should expect lane closures along the full length of the project from the Bayou to Westheimer.

City contractors will be working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on this section. They will install drainage improvements, water and sanitary as needed moving south from Avalon to Westheimer and East along Westheimer for about two blocks. During this time, traffic control will be established the length of the project on Shepherd and Westheimer. Motorists should expect to be down to one lane in either direction to pass through the construction area. The City has committed to clear the intersection as quickly as possible and restore traffic along Westheimer.

While the City is working in the intersection, Upper Kirby will remain clear of Westheimer and will focus on the primary outfall point for storm water along this section at Dickey Place. 

Once work on Dickey is complete, crews will demobilize for the time between Thanksgiving and January 2 in hopes that the City has also completed work through the Shepherd/Westheimer intersection and has opened Westheimer to unobstructed traffic flow for the holidays. City work will continue over the holidays north of the intersection but will observe Thanksgiving and the day after, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Upper Kirby work will begin on Westheimer around January 2 working from Shepherd to Persa. Look for updates as the schedule evolves.

 

For more information on Upper Kirby construction and related activities or for construction related issues or concerns, please contact Travis Younkin at 713.524.8000 or [email protected].   

TxDOT Construction
Greenbriar/Shepher Inbound Exit Closing Saturday
 

 

US 59 Frontage Road Reconstruction

TxDOT reconstruction of the frontage lanes, u-turns and intersection underpasses between 610 and Shepherd continued this week with work at the Weslayan intersection, the Shepherd intersection and several center-lane runs in between. 

Motorists have experienced severe traffic inbound at the Greenbriar/Shepherd exit. With lane impacts through the ongoing reconstruction of the Shepherd/59 intersection, traffic has backed up onto 59 at times via this exit. While the intent was to close this exit last Saturday, the closure did not occur as planned. The new scheduled closure is Tuesday, August 26th. Expect this closure to last a month while crews complete the Shepherd and then the Greenbriar intersections. The closing of this exit should roughly coincide with the opening of the Kirby exit outbound that has been closed since July 28th. 

Center lane work inbound approaching the Kirby intersection began was completed this week and has been reopened to unobstructed traffic on the new pavement.

At Weslayan and US 59, crews began work on Weslayan through lanes under the freeway last week. The northbound half of the underpass will take approximately 20 days to complete, at which point, work will flip to the southbound lanes. During that period, traffic will be detoured to their right along the feeder road where they can u-turn at the next frontage road intersection in order to return to Weslayan destinations.

The Shepherd intersection and underpass pavement reconstruction is sequenced a bit differently. As Shepherd is one-way, work here began with the western-most half of Shepherd under the freeway. Motorists attempting to continue through the underpass should expect delays as lanes are reduced through the intersection. Unlike Weslayan, this will not necessitate detouring traffic around the work area. The following phase will be the east side of Shepherd under the freeway followed by the frontage road and Shepherd right-turn quadrants at all four corners of the intersection. Once Weslayan and Shepherd are complete, crews will move intersection activities to Buffalo Speedway and Greenbriar.

Look for weekly updates as this project progresses.   

 

For a regularly updated list of lane closures and on and off-ramp closures, visit Houston Transtar here.    

If you have a new business, development or community event that you would like included in the monthly Upper Kirby news, please contact us at 713.524.8000 or submit to [email protected]
 
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Upper Kirby is a constantly evolving urban area marked by an outstanding location, great shopping, unique residential neighborhoods, smart development and a small town feel. It is an area of successful businesses, involved communities and a synergy between the public and private sectors. It is the heartbeat of Houston and everywhere you want to be.