Northpark Contractors Pouring Concrete Again

1/14/2026 – After the holidays, Northpark contractors placed rebar in many gaps along Northpark where concrete had not yet been poured. And today the concrete trucks were out in force, filling those gaps.

Contractors were also hard at work on drainage connections under Loop 494. Once those connections are completed, the last remaining segments of concrete can be poured and 494 will be complete.

That will leave the bridge over 494 and the Union Pacific railroad tracks to build. But before that can happen, UPRR needs to move the signals to the new crossings. See more below.

Concrete Pours

I took all pictures below on 1/14/26 at around 11 AM. Most of the new concrete being poured this morning was between Sherwin Williams and Dairy Queen.

*Looking west toward Loop 494 at a parade of concrete trucks lined up. By 11AM, several hundred feet had already been poured and leveled.*

*Close up from previous shot. Workers tightly coordinate to get the concrete down, spread, leveled and smoothed before it starts to harden.*

*Farther east, Phase I is virtually complete with the exception of several driveways and sidewalks on the north side (Left).*

*Higher angle from closer to Russell-Palmer Road, still looking east toward east end of project.*

*Reverse angle looking west shows where sidewalks currently end on north side of street (right).*

Drainage Connections at Loop 494

At Loop 494, contractors were working on both the northwest and southeast corners to complete drainage and sanitary connections.

*Looking E at 494 intersection. Note excavation work on the opposite corners.*

The current construction schedule posted on the TIRZ website, shows that contractors will demolish the existing east bound lanes (center-right above) on Friday and Saturday nights, 1/23 and 1/24.

*The junction box connecting the bore under the tracks still needs to be connected to drainage under Loop 494 coming from the entry ponds at US59.*

Re-Alignment of Railroad Crossing Signals

Before contractors build new surface lanes across the tracks and build the bridge, UPRR must move and rewire its traffic signals which currently close across the old lanes (right above).

*The signals and crossing gates must be set to guard the new crossings (bottom and top right) rather than the old lanes in the middle.*

Ralph DeLeon, TIRZ project manager says that he hopes UPRR will be able to get to the cross-signal issue in early February.

Until the TIRZ resolves that issue and pushes the new surface lanes across the track, it cannot build the bridge. There would be no way for traffic to get across the tracks.

Remaining Gaps

In the meantime, Northpark contractors will have to focus on filling in the remaining gaps.

*Looking W from over 59. Note fresh concrete in sidewalk on right. It must still be connected to sidewalks farther east.*

Once the drainage on both sides of Loop 494 is connected, contractors must clean out the ditch that runs from Public Storage behind the businesses north of Northpark down to Bens Branch. Then the drainage will be fully operational from east to west.

But contractors must also to finish excavating the lakes on either side of the entry above.

*Father west, between Whataburger and Loop 494 at top of frame, contractors must sink piers for bridge in center.*

Note at the bottom of the picture above, the full 12 lanes that Northpark will become in this area compared to the current four.

*Loop 494 can finally be completed once drainage under it is connected.*

*Underlayment, rebar and concrete remain for the surface lanes on the north side of Northpark by Self U and Public Storage.*

*The entrance to Kings Mill is currently scheduled for completion before the end of January.*

For More Information

When complete, this will be the first all-weather evacuation route from Kingwood for 78,000 people.

For additional forward-looking information, consult the Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority website, including their 3-week look-ahead schedule.

For a history of the project to date, search on “Northpark” in the upper right corner of ReduceFlooding.com. Since 2018, I have posted more than 200 stories about this project.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/14/2026

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