11/17/25 – Contractors for the Northpark Drive expansion project have officially begun mobilizing to build the bridge that will go over the UnionPacific Railroad (UPRR) Tracks and Loop 494. This morning, I received notice that a piece of equipment called a “Kelly Bar” arrived at the job site. It will be used to drill 100-foot deep piers for the bridge.
ChatGPT says, “A telescopic Kelly bar is made of nested, hollow, steel tubes of successively smaller diameter which slide within one another, allowing the overall length to extend or retract depending on drilling depth.”
Think of an extension pole that can reach the extreme depths needed to support a bridge that will carry heavy loads.
Kelly bar being hoisted off transport truckwill be used for hydro-excavation.
At the monthly meeting of the Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority/TIRZ 10 on 11/13/2025, Project Manager Ralph De Leon described next steps on the project.
Bridge Construction Will Likely Start on West Side of Loop 494
Contractors will likely start building the bridge on the west side of Loop 494 and work their way east. That’s because UPRR needs to move an electrical line that powers their railroad traffic signals. The line will move to a new pole just north (left) of the junction box shown below. The old pole is in the way of new surface turn lanes that will carry westbound traffic.
Before traffic can be rerouted to new surface lanes that will be built on the left, electricity for the RR signals must move from the old vine-covered pole to another one out of frame on the left.
Note how traffic swerves right in the photo above. Until that pole moves, traffic must use the old surface lanes, which are in the bridge’s path.
Said De Leon, “So, we cannot build our feeder roads. The goal was to put everybody on the outside lanes to create an opening in the middle for the bridge.”
So, instead of building the bridge starting east of the tracks, contractors will likely start on the west where barriers to rerouting traffic do not currently exist.
Looking west from Loop 494. Note how new eastbound pavement on left is mostly complete.
Eastbound Surface Lanes Close to Concrete Pours
De Leon said contractors could finish the eastbound lanes between Loop 494 and US59 as early as Friday, 11/22/25. That would let contractors tear out the old eastbound lanes and create room to start building the bridge in the middle – independent of what UPRR does with the electricity for its crossing signals.
East of Loop 494, those eastbound surface lanes on the south side of Northpark are also nearing completion. Subsurface prep appears to be complete or nearly so.
Looking east toward Russell Palmer from in front of Dunkin’. Note the asphalt in the new lanes on the right.
Concrete comes next. “Once they finish that section, you’ll be able to drive on the new lanes on the south side all the way down past Russell Palmer. So, we’re close to getting everybody out of the middle on the eastbound lanes,” said De Leon. In other news…
Drainage Junction Boxes by UPRR Tracks Half Done
One of the two giant junction boxes by the UPRR tracks is now virtually complete. The boxes are the last link that will carry drainage from west of 494 to the Kingwood Diversion Ditch.
Junction box cast in place west of UPRR tracks. The huge opening on the front will connect to a culvert coming under Loop 494. The back of the box (top of frame) is already connected to twin 5′ culverts under the tracks.
Once work on this junction box is complete, contractors can finish Loop 494 paving according to De Leon. “So, then 494 will have a broader cross-section. That’ll be great,” he said. Note how the junction box currently constricts 494 traffic in the photo below.
Looking S along Loop 494 where Northpark crosses L to R.
Meanwhile, work is just beginning on the box east of Loop 494 where boring started.
Junction box east of tracks. Note twin culverts, concrete floor, and contractors erecting rebar for side walls.
Focus on Driveway Construction
De Leon also discussed the status of business driveways that branch off Northpark. “If you’re going westbound from that new Chevron station near the Diversion Ditch, all those driveways are still blocked out. They have to finish those driveways. And that will keep them busy for a couple of months.” There are a lot of businesses! See the barriers below.
Looking W from Russell Palmer Drive at driveway construction.
For More Information
See the Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority/TIRZ 10 website for Project 1013.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/17/25
3002 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/20251117-image001.jpg?fit=1100%2C1071&ssl=110711100adminadmin2025-11-17 14:51:012025-11-19 07:02:58Northpark Contractors Begin Mobilizing for Bridge Construction
11/16/25 – Dozens of Kingwood volunteers – young and old – turned out yesterday for Round 4 of Median Madness. Armed with lopping shears, muscle, determination and smiles, they de-vined another section of Northpark Drive just east of West Lake Houston Parkway.
They cut, pulled and stacked mountains of vines that had been creeping out into traffic and reducing visibility. City of Houston Parks Dept. and HPD assisted the effort organized by City Council Member Fred Flickinger’s District E office.
What a Difference a Day Makes!
The work was exhausting, but fun. In a matter of hours, an ad hoc group of volunteers eliminated an eyesore and helped restore one of the worst sections on one of the major arteries in Kingwood. The pictures below tell the story.
The registration team from City Council Member Fred Flickingers District E office.City Council Member Fred Flickinger set the tone for the Vine-Wrestling Championship.Volunteers stretched out for blocks.The joy of triumph.
In the end, the vines were no match for the volunteers…
…or the Houston Parks Department.
Many thanks to the sponsors: Chick-Fil-A, Trees for Kingwood and Houston Parks Department. Also to Council Member Fred Flickinger for organizing the event. And let’s not forget HPD who kept the volunteers safe from traffic as they worked.
Finally, thanks also to all the Greenbelt Guardians, who were well represented.
The Result
The volunteers proved once again that making a difference can be fun and rewarding.
I took the shot below this morning. A day after the event, no more vines or branches were intruding on the roadway! As one of the volunteers said, “I’m so proud of our team! Citizens 1. Ugly Vines 0.”
She can’t wait for the Median Madness Round 5. “This is the tip of the iceberg,” she said.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/16/25
3001 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/20251115-DJI_20251115094424_0405_D.jpg?fit=1100%2C619&ssl=16191100adminadmin2025-11-16 15:15:322025-11-16 15:15:33Median Madness Volunteers De-Vine Another Section of Northpark
11/15/2025 – Today marks 3000 days since Hurricane Harvey – 8.2 years.
In that time, I’ve researched and written 2,941 articles about flooding that have been read 2,737,740 times.
Those articles contained 1,989,909 words (not counting this one). That roughly equals 25 novels.
I’ve also shot 63,526 photos to support that work.
Before I run out of Coke Zeros and power bars, I’d like to look back and ask:
What have we accomplished since Harvey?
What have we learned that can reduce future flooding?
What We Have Accomplished
I asked Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) for a table showing how many structures have been removed from floodplains since Harvey and where. I wanted to show how much we have gotten for our tax dollars.
Unfortunately, they didn’t provide me with exact information requested. Instead, they referred me to two pages on their website.
One showed general areas where they were buying out homes. It provided a round number for the number of buyouts to date: 3,000. But they have 5,000 remaining to close on. Total cost for 8,000: $1 billion dollars. Prorated cost for 3000: $375 million. They never did tell me how many were in each watershed.
The other link led to a list of completed mitigation projects. It showed we’ve spent $1.7 billion to date. But as far as I could see, only a couple of the project summaries linked to the spending page disclosed how many homes were removed from floodplains. That adds another 900 homes. Now, we’re up to 3,900.
So, for each reported home that HCFCD has removed from floodplains since Harvey, they’ve spent somewhere between $436,000 and $538,000.
In fairness, most of the projects completed to date do not involve construction. Said another way, we’ve spent a lot of money preparing for construction on other projects with preliminary studies and right-of-way acquisition. It could also be that the summaries of some projects simply did not list their benefits.
But of the 41 total projects completed to date, it appears that only a handful involved actual construction that removes homes from floodplains.
What Have We Learned?
So what can we deduce from those observations?
It costs far more to remove homes from floodplains than they are worth in most cases.
After floods, private profit turns into public cost. Wouldn’t it be much more cost effective to just:
Not build homes and businesses in risky floodplains or elevate them?
Teach people how to avoid flood risk and give them the tools to do so?
Unify floodplain standards throughout the region, so people downstream don’t bear the brunt of insufficient mitigation upstream?
Actually enforce those floodplain standards instead of looking the other way?
Turn those floodplains into parks that support recreation, healthier lifestyles and home values in adjacent neighborhoods?
Stay involved in mitigation efforts after a flood instead of pretending the next flood is a 100-years away?
So far, we’ve spent a little more than $2 billion to prevent another Harvey. But the storm cost $125 billion. Let’s not forget that. That’s the last lesson.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/15/25
3,000 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Harvey-Damage.jpg?fit=1100%2C733&ssl=17331100adminadmin2025-11-15 12:44:012025-11-15 12:44:02What Have We Accomplished and Learned in 3000 Days Since Harvey?
Northpark Contractors Begin Mobilizing for Bridge Construction
11/17/25 – Contractors for the Northpark Drive expansion project have officially begun mobilizing to build the bridge that will go over the UnionPacific Railroad (UPRR) Tracks and Loop 494. This morning, I received notice that a piece of equipment called a “Kelly Bar” arrived at the job site. It will be used to drill 100-foot deep piers for the bridge.
ChatGPT says, “A telescopic Kelly bar is made of nested, hollow, steel tubes of successively smaller diameter which slide within one another, allowing the overall length to extend or retract depending on drilling depth.”
Think of an extension pole that can reach the extreme depths needed to support a bridge that will carry heavy loads.
At the monthly meeting of the Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority/TIRZ 10 on 11/13/2025, Project Manager Ralph De Leon described next steps on the project.
Bridge Construction Will Likely Start on West Side of Loop 494
Contractors will likely start building the bridge on the west side of Loop 494 and work their way east. That’s because UPRR needs to move an electrical line that powers their railroad traffic signals. The line will move to a new pole just north (left) of the junction box shown below. The old pole is in the way of new surface turn lanes that will carry westbound traffic.
Note how traffic swerves right in the photo above. Until that pole moves, traffic must use the old surface lanes, which are in the bridge’s path.
Said De Leon, “So, we cannot build our feeder roads. The goal was to put everybody on the outside lanes to create an opening in the middle for the bridge.”
So, instead of building the bridge starting east of the tracks, contractors will likely start on the west where barriers to rerouting traffic do not currently exist.
Eastbound Surface Lanes Close to Concrete Pours
De Leon said contractors could finish the eastbound lanes between Loop 494 and US59 as early as Friday, 11/22/25. That would let contractors tear out the old eastbound lanes and create room to start building the bridge in the middle – independent of what UPRR does with the electricity for its crossing signals.
East of Loop 494, those eastbound surface lanes on the south side of Northpark are also nearing completion. Subsurface prep appears to be complete or nearly so.
Concrete comes next. “Once they finish that section, you’ll be able to drive on the new lanes on the south side all the way down past Russell Palmer. So, we’re close to getting everybody out of the middle on the eastbound lanes,” said De Leon. In other news…
Drainage Junction Boxes by UPRR Tracks Half Done
One of the two giant junction boxes by the UPRR tracks is now virtually complete. The boxes are the last link that will carry drainage from west of 494 to the Kingwood Diversion Ditch.
Once work on this junction box is complete, contractors can finish Loop 494 paving according to De Leon. “So, then 494 will have a broader cross-section. That’ll be great,” he said. Note how the junction box currently constricts 494 traffic in the photo below.
Meanwhile, work is just beginning on the box east of Loop 494 where boring started.
Focus on Driveway Construction
De Leon also discussed the status of business driveways that branch off Northpark. “If you’re going westbound from that new Chevron station near the Diversion Ditch, all those driveways are still blocked out. They have to finish those driveways. And that will keep them busy for a couple of months.” There are a lot of businesses! See the barriers below.
For More Information
See the Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority/TIRZ 10 website for Project 1013.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/17/25
3002 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Median Madness Volunteers De-Vine Another Section of Northpark
11/16/25 – Dozens of Kingwood volunteers – young and old – turned out yesterday for Round 4 of Median Madness. Armed with lopping shears, muscle, determination and smiles, they de-vined another section of Northpark Drive just east of West Lake Houston Parkway.
They cut, pulled and stacked mountains of vines that had been creeping out into traffic and reducing visibility. City of Houston Parks Dept. and HPD assisted the effort organized by City Council Member Fred Flickinger’s District E office.
What a Difference a Day Makes!
The work was exhausting, but fun. In a matter of hours, an ad hoc group of volunteers eliminated an eyesore and helped restore one of the worst sections on one of the major arteries in Kingwood. The pictures below tell the story.
In the end, the vines were no match for the volunteers…
…or the Houston Parks Department.
Many thanks to the sponsors: Chick-Fil-A, Trees for Kingwood and Houston Parks Department. Also to Council Member Fred Flickinger for organizing the event. And let’s not forget HPD who kept the volunteers safe from traffic as they worked.
Finally, thanks also to all the Greenbelt Guardians, who were well represented.
The Result
The volunteers proved once again that making a difference can be fun and rewarding.
I took the shot below this morning. A day after the event, no more vines or branches were intruding on the roadway! As one of the volunteers said, “I’m so proud of our team! Citizens 1. Ugly Vines 0.”
She can’t wait for the Median Madness Round 5. “This is the tip of the iceberg,” she said.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/16/25
3001 Days since Hurricane Harvey
What Have We Accomplished and Learned in 3000 Days Since Harvey?
11/15/2025 – Today marks 3000 days since Hurricane Harvey – 8.2 years.
In that time, I’ve researched and written 2,941 articles about flooding that have been read 2,737,740 times.
Those articles contained 1,989,909 words (not counting this one). That roughly equals 25 novels.
I’ve also shot 63,526 photos to support that work.
Before I run out of Coke Zeros and power bars, I’d like to look back and ask:
What We Have Accomplished
I asked Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) for a table showing how many structures have been removed from floodplains since Harvey and where. I wanted to show how much we have gotten for our tax dollars.
Unfortunately, they didn’t provide me with exact information requested. Instead, they referred me to two pages on their website.
One showed general areas where they were buying out homes. It provided a round number for the number of buyouts to date: 3,000. But they have 5,000 remaining to close on. Total cost for 8,000: $1 billion dollars. Prorated cost for 3000: $375 million. They never did tell me how many were in each watershed.
The other link led to a list of completed mitigation projects. It showed we’ve spent $1.7 billion to date. But as far as I could see, only a couple of the project summaries linked to the spending page disclosed how many homes were removed from floodplains. That adds another 900 homes. Now, we’re up to 3,900.
But how much did we spend on them? They list conflicting information on different pages. The second page shows $400 million more than reported on the first page, for a total of $2.1 billion. Both are dated October, 2025.
So, for each reported home that HCFCD has removed from floodplains since Harvey, they’ve spent somewhere between $436,000 and $538,000.
In fairness, most of the projects completed to date do not involve construction. Said another way, we’ve spent a lot of money preparing for construction on other projects with preliminary studies and right-of-way acquisition. It could also be that the summaries of some projects simply did not list their benefits.
But of the 41 total projects completed to date, it appears that only a handful involved actual construction that removes homes from floodplains.
What Have We Learned?
So what can we deduce from those observations?
After floods, private profit turns into public cost. Wouldn’t it be much more cost effective to just:
So far, we’ve spent a little more than $2 billion to prevent another Harvey. But the storm cost $125 billion. Let’s not forget that. That’s the last lesson.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/15/25
3,000 Days since Hurricane Harvey