Construction of Giant East TC Jester Basin Kicks into High Gear
6/26/26 – After getting off to a sluggish start, construction of the giant 725-acre-foot East TC Jester stormwater detention basin along Cypress Creek has kicked into high gear.
History of Project
On 11/30/21, Harris County Commissioners approved an agreement with an engineering company to provide design/bid/construction-phase services.
In September of 2023, Dr. Tina Petersen held a press conference at the site to with Congressman Dan Crenshaw, State Rep. Sam Harless, and Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey to promote the funding secured for construction.
Then, there was a long pause. In mid-April this year, I received an email from Harris County Flood Control District saying construction had started. But when I visited the site on 4/22/26, I saw nothing but a construction trailer. That led me to conclude that HCFCD was broken.
On 5/1/26, HCFCD released a report saying it would miss the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) deadline of 2/28/27 by several months.
A little more than a month later, on 6/3/26, the Texas General Land Office (GLO) estimated construction was only 2% complete with only nine months left before the clock ran out on $23,844,000.00 of HUD funding.
Progress in Last 2 Months
Today, 6/27/26, I visited the site again and was pleasantly surprised by the progress.
Contractors had to clear the site before excavation could start. That looked complete and they were well into the excavation phase. I saw a carousel of belly-dump trucks parading past three excavators on a Saturday afternoon. In the 20 minutes I flew over the site, I counted more than a dozen of the giant trucks come in, fill up, and exit the site.
See the pictures below. First, here was the starting point two months ago.
I wish all the HUD Community Development Block Grant projects were moving as fast as this one. Unfortunately, they aren’t. See one tomorrow that seems to be moving slower. Much slower. .
Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/27/2026
3234 Days since Hurricane Harvey
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