Northpark culvert installation resumed in a major way last week.

For several months, utility conflicts stalled installation of the 6’x8′ box culverts down the center of Northpark Drive. During preparation of the center ditch, contractors found gas lines buried at insufficient depth.

With those conflicts now resolved, according to Project Manager Ralph De Leon, installation of the box culverts can now resume. When contractors complete the culverts, dirt will be placed on top of them, and then two lanes of pavement on top of the dirt. The result will be a Northpark Drive that expands inward instead of outward. It will create three lanes in each direction…that should not flood like the thoroughfare currently does.

The expansion project has two primary goals:

• Get more people in and out of Kingwood faster…
• …in all weather conditions, even when other thoroughfares are cut off by flooding.

During Hurricane Harvey, West Lake Houston Parkway, Hamblen, Kingwood Drive, and parts of Mills Branch Road were all blocked by rising floodwaters.

Pictures of Installation Progress as of 4/15/24

Since my last post on 4/8/24, contractors completed installation of the culvert at Parkwood Baptist Church and are working their way west past Russell Palmer Road. Today, they were working in front of Shipley’s Donuts.

In Other Northpark News

Entergy managed to install five more power poles in the last week. That brings their total to nine in four years.

The new power poles sit back farther from the street. That will create room for four more lanes of traffic adjacent to the bridge that will go over the railroad tracks at 494. The four include two inbound turn lanes and two outbound turn lanes to/from 494.

Project managers first notified Entergy of the need to move the poles in 2020. Construction experts tell me the project could have easily been completed by now.

Not much new has happened at the entry ponds at 59. Heavy rains a week ago have the bottoms covered with water.

See the route below. It will go behind the businesses on the north side of Northpark until reaching the Kingwood Diversion Ditch and Bens Branch.

That pretty much does it for visible progress during the last week.

For More Information

For more information about Northpark expansion, visit the project pages of the LHRA/Tirz 10 website. Or see these posts on ReduceFlooding:

• 24/04/07 Northpark Entergy Saga: New Power Poles Slowly Going Up
• 24/04/02 New Entergy Power Poles Finally Arrive on Northpark
• 24/03/29 Northpark Expansion Update; Still No Sign of Entergy
• 24/03/16 First Concrete Poured for Northpark Expansion
• 24/03/09 Entergy Ignores City Deadline to Move Power Lines
• 24/03/08 TXDoT, LHRA Engage Kingwood at Northpark Phase II Meeting
• 24/03/05 Details of Phase II Meeting
• 24/02/27 February ’24 Northpark Expansion Update Including Lane Closures
• 24.02/24 Save the Dates: Public Input Meetings for Diversion Ditch, Northpark Expansion Phase II
• 24/02/20 Entergy Escalates Battle with COH over Northpark
• 24/02/16 Excavation of Second Northpark Detention Basin Well Underway
• 24/02/10 Entergy in City’s Crosshairs, Lane Closures Announced
• 24/02/02 Northpark Tree Transplantation Finished, Drainage Updates
• 24/01/13 Excavation of Northpark Detention Basins Starts
• 24/01/07 What Some Utilities Don’t Understand About the Northpark Expansion Project
• 24/01/04 Northpark Tree Moving Starts; Pond Excavation Next
• 23/12/03 Northpark Expansion Presses Forward While Fighting Entergy Obstacle
• 23/11/17 Contractors Strike Oil at Entry (Illegally dumped years ago)
• 23/11/05 City Approves Northpark Expansion Agreement with Union-Pacific.
• 23/10/26 Project moving forward on multiple fronts
• 23/10/12 Transplanting first tree
• 23/10/02 Clearing of south-side entry for second pond
• 23/09/30 Clearing north-side entry for first pond
• 23/09/23 How plan balances flood mitigation, costs, saving trees
• 23/09/02 New entry design, change in construction plans forced by utility conflicts
• 23/08/17 More drainage for Northpark
• 23/08/02 Ditch clearing stretches halfway to 59 in less than week
• 23/07/25 Northpark construction starts in earnest
• 23/04/13 Groundbreaking
• 22/02/19 Update on expansion project
• 21/07/28 Plan details

Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/15/24

2421 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.