Update: Taylor Gully-Woodridge Progress, Contract

6/13/26 – The Taylor Gully-Woodridge Project in Kingwood is now in construction. That’s good news for the hundreds of families who flooded repeatedly, largely due upstream clearcutting for construction.

How Long Will Construction Take and Other Questions

Many have asked me how long the project will take, so I submitted a FOIA request for the contract documents.

The short answer: December 2027 … if all goes according to plan.

Harris County Commissioners approved Brice Construction and Design LLC’s $29.4 million contract in their March 31, 2026, meeting. The contractor has 552 calendar days with another 64 days for inclement weather. That’s 616 days total. From the start of the contract, that would put completion in December 2027. So, we’ll have to go through two hurricane seasons before we see promised flood-risk reductions.

Readers have also asked about the scope of the project, where they will start, and how the contractors are progressing.

Scope of Contract

The contract has two large components:

Widening and deepening approximately two miles of Taylor Gully.
Building a 421.6 acre-foot detention basin on the Woodridge Village property.

The County bought Woodridge from Perry Homes in 2021. Part of it was already excavated under a previous “Excavation and Removal” (E&R) contract with Sprint Sand & Clay. Under an E&R contract, HCFCD gives a contractor the right to remove dirt from an area where a detention basin will go for only a $1000. The contractor then makes a profit by selling the dirt for beneficial uses on the open market.

For the detention basin, the current contractor must:

Excavate an additional 1,002,639 cubic yards of material
Create a wet-bottom basin with 30-65 foot wide berms and backslope swales
Construct a limestone aggregate maintenance access ramp
Build a 30-foot wide bottom shelf
Establish a 52-foot wide vegetative shelf for wetlands planting
Construct a wet pool 6 feet deep
Connect the basin with inflow/outflow culverts to the existing basin at the east end of Woodridge.

*Basin Plan for Woodridge Village Portion of Project*

For the channel conveyance improvements, the contractor must:

Lower the existing flow line of the channel by 4 feet by excavating 54,085 cubic yards
Install 10,306 linear feet of a 20’x4′ concrete low flow channel

Proposed Low-flow channel in Taylor Gully — *Adopted alternative for concrete-lined low-flow channel.*

The contractor must also build a:

Concrete maintenance access ramp
156-foot-long drop structure at the downstream end of the project
New clear-span bridge at Rustling Elms to replace the culverts which back water up during floods.

*Compartment 2 will be considered in future. It is not part of this project.*

Where They will Start

The contract documents contain a Q&A section with questions submitted by bidders buried in approximately 600 pages.

At least one bidder (we don’t know who) expressed reservations about completing a project of this size in 616 days. HCFCD responded that it expected the contractor to work on both parts of the project simultaneously. See below.

*Screen capture from Q&A Per Addendum No. 1 to contract*

…But Work to Date Has Focused Only on Detention Basin

Regardless, in the first 2.5 months, Brice has focused only on the detention basin.

It took Brice several weeks to mobilize for the job. After being awarded the contract at the end of March, 2026, I first noticed activity on the site around mid-May. That’s when the contractor started breaking up old storm sewer pipe on the site.

Brice then started moving dirt by the first week in June. To see how much work Brice has completed to date, compare the first two photos below.

Woodridge village excavation at end of October 2023 — *How Woodridge* *looked* *before Brice started.*

*How same area looked around 2 PM on Friday 6/12/26.*

Brice appears to have:

Cleaned up the site
Broken up pipe, which they will likely use later
Knocked down some trees at the far end of the project area
Smoothed out the western edge of the pond
Piled the dirt onsite rather than hauling it away now.

See below.

*Reverse angle shot, also taken around 2 PM on 6/12/26*

Meanwhile I saw no work on the Taylor Gully portion of the project.

*Taylor Gully. Looking at the old Rustling Elms culvert bridge in the foreground and the West Lake Houston Parkway Bridge by the water tower at the top of frame.*

Taylor Gully End of Project in Center by Concrete — Taylor Gully Project ends at concrete in center of image between Mills Branch (under camera) and Maple Bend (far bridge). I spotted no construction equipment anywhere along the entire length of the channel.

Contract Documents

If you have other questions, consult the contract documents below. HCFCD sent me all the components of Brice’s contract in a file too large to post. So, I split the file up into the sections below for your convenience.

Note: As I post this, FEMA has the Lake Houston Area under a flash flood watch with another 8-12 inches of rainfall possible by Wednesday.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/15/2026

3213 Days since Hurricane Harvey