Crews made great strides on the Westheimer improvements project between Kirby and Shepherd. A concrete crew finished work up to the Kirby intersection late last week completing the north side of the roadway between Kirby and Dickey Place.

This concrete should be ready to be opened up to traffic as early as Thursday of this week. Until this section opens, eastbound motorists should expect to be transitioned down to one lane around Lake Street and westbound motorists should expect to be transitioned to the south side of the road just west of Dickey. There will be no left turns onto Kirby from Westheimer as this work is completed.

Concurrently, a storm sewer installation crew completed work east of Dickey Place to Greenbriar about mid week last week. Concrete preparation can now begin along this section and, provided the contractor can access the Shepherd intersection currently occupied by the City project running north of the intersection, crews can complete storm connections and begin intersection restoration at Shepherd shortly. If the City work in the intersection lingers, it is possible that Westheimer work will continue with pavement reconstruction along the south side of Westheimer between Greenbriar and Kirby. Look for further updates as this schedule is finalized.

Bissonnet Reconstruction: Kirby to Buffalo Speedway

Crews completed the utility duct bank construction along Bissonnet several weeks ago that will allow the overhead utility lines to move to new underground facilities. A large access pit has, however, obstructed the curbside lane heading westbound just east of the Buffalo Speedway intersection for some time awaiting required Center Point Energy work.

Upper Kirby contractor, Harper Brothers Construction, will back-fill this pit on Wednesday and provide asphalt so that traffic can be returned to this lane as soon as possible. Center Point will still need to come back to make the required connections on their end, but the pit provided by Harper Brothers could not remain any longer. Look for updates as utility work continues here.

Ultimately Bissonnet will be completely reconstructed with new storm sewer improvements, streetscape amenities and new concrete, however, work will not begin on the complete reconstruction until all of the telecommunications providers have moved their services to the new underground duct banks and the overhead poles have been removed. While this process can be completed in as few as 45 days, it can also take up to six months to complete. It is not likely that any activity will commence until late summer of early fall. Look for updates as this work progresses.