Median planned for section of Memorial Drive
Another project on Barryknoll completed at almost $300,000 under budget
Engineers for a tax-increment reinvestment zone are responding to public comments received at a recent town hall to discuss reconstruction of Memorial Drive from Beltway 8 to east of Tallowood.
That project, as well as work being done on Lumpkin Road and completion of a project on Barryknoll, were among items reviewed by the TIRZ No. 17 Redevelopment Authority board at its April 28 meeting.
Pre-engineering work is under way on the Memorial Drive project, which will add a median and left-turn lanes at key locations to improve safety and mobility within the existing 100-foot right of way.
The project also will increase capacity of the street’s storm sewers. Traffic signals at the Beltway and West Bough will be upgraded, and sidewalks are envisioned on both sides of the roadway, with one wide enough for shared use by walkers and bike riders.
Details about the recommended project are on the TIRZ No. 17 website at www. houstontirz17.org.
Some residents are asking that the proposed median width be reduced, from 24 feet to 18 feet.
They’re concerned the city might remove the wider median later to add more traffic lanes, something neighborhood leaders oppose.
But Muhammad Ali, who works with TIRZ No. 17 consultants Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Inc., said this segment of Memorial is not projected to need more lanes in the city’s long-range plans. The wider median will better accommodate U-turns and keep turning vehicles out of the through lanes, according to his report to the board.
The report notes that engineers are evaluating a request to enlarge the box culvert for W-153, a channel that drains the area under Memorial Drive to Buffalo Bayou.
The evaluation will be part of the pre-engineering re-
port on the project, which should be complete in a few months.
A suggested bike lane adjacent to traffic also will be evaluated in the report, although Ali’s report to the TIRZ board favors a shared-use path that is separated from traffic. TIRZ 17’s capital improvement plan budgets about $12.2 million for the project. More than half the amount is to increase the road’s storm water capacity. Designs for the project should be complete by June 2016. Construction is expected to be completed by August 2017. Barryknoll
TIRZ No. 17’s board also approved documents to finalize its reconstruction project on Barryknoll between Memorial City Mall and Bunker Hill Road. The project was completed almost $300,000 under budget at a total cost close to $5.6 million. The improvements added 4.5-acre feet of storm water storage capacity, new sidewalks and upgraded utilities.
Lumpkin
Ali also updated board members on the$13.5 million Lumpkin Road project, which is rebuilding the road north of Interstate 10 to Northbrook Drive and enlarging an existing detention basin near its intersection with Westview.
When completed in mid-April 2016, Lumpkin will be a curb-and-gutter street with two lanes and a center turn lane, six-foot wide sidewalks on both sides and new hardscape and softscape. With enlarged storm sewers and extra detention capacity in the basin, the project is expected to add 20 acre-feet of storm water detention capacity in the area northeast of Interstate 10 and the Sam Houston Tollway.