My posts earlier this week about repair of the Northpark Drive drainage ditch between Loop 494 and the Kingwood Diversion Ditch sparked a flurry of questions. People wanted to know when the Northpark Drive expansion project would begin. Last July, local leaders felt it would begin before the end of 2021. Obviously that didn’t happen. So I reached out to Stan Sarman, chairman of the Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority (LHRA) and Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) #10 (Kingwood).
Sarman, an engineer by trade, said “I never thought it would take this long to obtain all the Right-Of-Way easements and approval of the plans by the City of Houston and Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR). Below is a summary of the information that was reported at the LHRA/TIRZ10 Board meeting on February 10th.”
“The 100% construction plans went to the City and UPRR,” continued Sarman. “We are now getting more comments from the City Public Works people. There is to be a meeting next week with our consultants and the City staff to work through the comments.”
“The UPRR approval is not expected until late March, 2022, according to UPRR’s consultant. We have 6 or 7 easements remaining and we are close to getting across the finish line by the end of March.”
“The best estimate I have,” said Sarman “is to try and bid the job in April, 2022, and start construction in mid summer. We will keep the public informed of when we expect construction to start.”
The reconstruction of Northpark Drive into a 6-lane divided roadway, between IH-69 and Russell Palmer Road and an overpass over the UPRR train tracks and State Loop 494. Projected to take 30 months after start of construction.
The reconstruction of Northpark Drive into a 6-lane divided roadway, new bridges at the Kingwood Diversion Ditch and Ben’s Branch and a pedestrian tunnel near Glade Valley Road. Projected to take 24 months after start of construction.
Say Goodbye to the Ditch
A giant buried box culvert will replace the ditch down the middle of the Northpark and the extra lanes will go over the top of it.
Other features include:
Drainage will be sized to comply with new higher Atlas-14 requirements.
Dual 10-foot wide pathways on the north and south sides of Northpark Drive from Rock Creek Drive to Russell Palmer Road will facilitate bicycle and pedestrian traffic.
Enhanced lighting and landscaping.
This project can’t come soon enough for me. Coming inbound to Kingwood today from US59, I saw outbound traffic stacked up for more than a mile past Russell-Palmer Road! That’s an everyday experience as shown by this file photo taken last July 28.
Northpark Drive looking east at outbound traffic on left side of road. Taken July 28, 2021 from over the UP railroad tracks.
If traffic backs up this far in the middle of a sunny afternoon, imagine how far it would back up when thousands were trying to evacuate from a flood.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/19/22
1635 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/20210728-DJI_0253.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=17991200adminadmin2022-02-19 19:36:262022-02-19 20:55:14February Update on Northpark Drive Expansion
Construction activity at the Laurel Springs RV Resort near Lakewood Cove kicked into overdrive today as workers laid forms to prepare for concrete and more pipes went into the ground. Also, the detention pond seemed to change shape in ways that could reduce its capacity.
Getting Ready for Concrete
The shot below shows what will become the main entrance/exit opposite Mystic Glen Loop in Lakewood Cove.
Entrance/Exit to RV Resort. Concrete building pad for recreation center. The two rectangular areas in front of the three cargo containers will be the first RV pads. Blue pipes will carry fresh water.Plans that correspond to the photo above.Concrete forms also extend south toward the detention pond, out of sight at bottom of frame.
Baffling Work at Detention Pond
The work at the detention pond today was hard to explain. For the last few days, workers have pulled dirt and tree debris up onto the southwestern wall of the detention pond. Here’s how it looked yesterday around noon.
SW wall of RV Resort detention pond photographed on 2/17/2022.
Trucks have moved a portion of it to the western wall.
Looking east. Excavator loading debris onto truck which will back it around to the western wall (out of frame to the lower left). This and all photos below taken 2/18/22.Truck transplanting debris on western wall.
The wide shot below shows where they have been piling it on the western wall and puts the activity in context.
Looking South toward Edgewater Park in background.But it wasn’t all going to the western wall. Bulldozers spread some into the Laurel Springs RV Resort detention pond. The area where contractors laid pipe between the pond (left) and ponding water (right).Meanwhile, another bulldozer seemed to push dirt from the outside of the pond’s southern wall to the inside. It appeared as though contractors were attempting to shift the entire wall to the north. If accurate, that could reduce the pond’s already constrained capacity.
Did the developer’s surveyors make a mistake initially? We shall know soon enough if the County conducts its own survey.
If that tree debris gets plowed into the pond wall, it could weaken the structural integrity of the pond as the woody material decays.
The further along construction gets, the harder it is to undo mistakes if they happen. So we need to monitor this closely.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/18/22
1634 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/20220218-DJI_0059.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=17991200adminadmin2022-02-18 20:45:272022-02-18 20:45:31RV Resort Getting Ready to Pour Concrete, Baffling Activity at Detention Pond
They must have had their ears close to the ground. By noon, I got a call from McKay. Within another hour, he had inspected the ditch and agreed it was a mess. Then by 2PM, he had trucks and backhoes onsite. And by 4PM, they were packing up and hauling away the last piles of dirt left in the ditch from last weekend’s repair effort.
It all happened so fast, I barely had time to get there to take photos. And it all happened before rush hour!
Photo submitted by reader of work on Thursday afternoon, 2/17/22.Backhoe scoops up dirt left behind that was in danger of slumping back into ditch during a heavy rain.Traffic was slightly backed up, but it kept moving. It took about five minutes to get from 494 to the car wash at Russell-Palmer Road.By the time I got my drone up, the last of the dirt was excavated……and drivers were hauling it away.
McKay apologized for not returning my call earlier this week. He said he had a dental emergency that kept him out of the office until today.
Having worked near this area for more than 20 years, I watched Northpark go underwater with regularity – on average at least once or twice a year. Scary for an evacuation route!
I hope MoCo can improve the maintenance intervals on this ditch. Northpark and the areas around it have seen tremendous growth in recent years.
My thanks to Commissioner Metts and Mr. McKay for the heavy lifting on this one. And especially for their fast response! They got ‘er done this time!
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/17/22
1533 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/20220217-RJR_9233.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=18001200adminadmin2022-02-17 17:34:182022-02-17 17:48:24Northpark Drainage Ditch: Got ‘Er Done This Time!
February Update on Northpark Drive Expansion
My posts earlier this week about repair of the Northpark Drive drainage ditch between Loop 494 and the Kingwood Diversion Ditch sparked a flurry of questions. People wanted to know when the Northpark Drive expansion project would begin. Last July, local leaders felt it would begin before the end of 2021. Obviously that didn’t happen. So I reached out to Stan Sarman, chairman of the Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority (LHRA) and Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) #10 (Kingwood).
Sarman, an engineer by trade, said “I never thought it would take this long to obtain all the Right-Of-Way easements and approval of the plans by the City of Houston and Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR). Below is a summary of the information that was reported at the LHRA/TIRZ10 Board meeting on February 10th.”
“The 100% construction plans went to the City and UPRR,” continued Sarman. “We are now getting more comments from the City Public Works people. There is to be a meeting next week with our consultants and the City staff to work through the comments.”
“The UPRR approval is not expected until late March, 2022, according to UPRR’s consultant. We have 6 or 7 easements remaining and we are close to getting across the finish line by the end of March.”
“The best estimate I have,” said Sarman “is to try and bid the job in April, 2022, and start construction in mid summer. We will keep the public informed of when we expect construction to start.”
The money is in the TIRZ budget, which the City approved. See pages 7-9 of Exhibit A in this PDF.
Northpark Drive Reconstruction Project Overview
Here’s a link to more information about the project on the LHRA website. Northpark Drive reconstruction consists of two projects right now.
T-1013 Northpark Drive Overpass Project (Western Phase)
The reconstruction of Northpark Drive into a 6-lane divided roadway, between IH-69 and Russell Palmer Road and an overpass over the UPRR train tracks and State Loop 494. Projected to take 30 months after start of construction.
T-1014 Northpark Drive Reconstruction Project (Eastern Phase)
The reconstruction of Northpark Drive into a 6-lane divided roadway, new bridges at the Kingwood Diversion Ditch and Ben’s Branch and a pedestrian tunnel near Glade Valley Road. Projected to take 24 months after start of construction.
Say Goodbye to the Ditch
A giant buried box culvert will replace the ditch down the middle of the Northpark and the extra lanes will go over the top of it.
Other features include:
This project can’t come soon enough for me. Coming inbound to Kingwood today from US59, I saw outbound traffic stacked up for more than a mile past Russell-Palmer Road! That’s an everyday experience as shown by this file photo taken last July 28.
If traffic backs up this far in the middle of a sunny afternoon, imagine how far it would back up when thousands were trying to evacuate from a flood.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/19/22
1635 Days since Hurricane Harvey
RV Resort Getting Ready to Pour Concrete, Baffling Activity at Detention Pond
Construction activity at the Laurel Springs RV Resort near Lakewood Cove kicked into overdrive today as workers laid forms to prepare for concrete and more pipes went into the ground. Also, the detention pond seemed to change shape in ways that could reduce its capacity.
Getting Ready for Concrete
The shot below shows what will become the main entrance/exit opposite Mystic Glen Loop in Lakewood Cove.
Baffling Work at Detention Pond
The work at the detention pond today was hard to explain. For the last few days, workers have pulled dirt and tree debris up onto the southwestern wall of the detention pond. Here’s how it looked yesterday around noon.
Trucks have moved a portion of it to the western wall.
The wide shot below shows where they have been piling it on the western wall and puts the activity in context.
Did the developer’s surveyors make a mistake initially? We shall know soon enough if the County conducts its own survey.
Reducing Pond Capacity?
I’m especially concerned about the potential loss of capacity in the detention pond. It already had only half the current capacity required to meet current City of Houston standards.
The further along construction gets, the harder it is to undo mistakes if they happen. So we need to monitor this closely.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/18/22
1634 Days since Hurricane Harvey
The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
Northpark Drainage Ditch: Got ‘Er Done This Time!
This morning, I posted about what appeared to be a premature victory lap on the repair of the Northpark Drive drainage ditch with a plea to Git ‘Er Done. Well, this afternoon, Montgomery County Precinct 4 Commissioner James Metts and his drainage supervisor Mike McKay Got ‘Er Done.
Barely Enough Time to Take Photos
They must have had their ears close to the ground. By noon, I got a call from McKay. Within another hour, he had inspected the ditch and agreed it was a mess. Then by 2PM, he had trucks and backhoes onsite. And by 4PM, they were packing up and hauling away the last piles of dirt left in the ditch from last weekend’s repair effort.
It all happened so fast, I barely had time to get there to take photos. And it all happened before rush hour!
He said they hauled more than 30 truckloads of dirt out of Northpark on Saturday night and Sunday morning before knocking off at around 2AM. The temp had dropped below freezing at that point.
Regular Maintenance Key to Reducing Flooding
McKay apologized for not returning my call earlier this week. He said he had a dental emergency that kept him out of the office until today.
Having worked near this area for more than 20 years, I watched Northpark go underwater with regularity – on average at least once or twice a year. Scary for an evacuation route!
I hope MoCo can improve the maintenance intervals on this ditch. Northpark and the areas around it have seen tremendous growth in recent years.
My thanks to Commissioner Metts and Mr. McKay for the heavy lifting on this one. And especially for their fast response! They got ‘er done this time!
Posted by Bob Rehak on 2/17/22
1533 Days since Hurricane Harvey