TxDOT details costs related to Harvey, outlines repair efforts for flooded roads

AUSTIN — Texas roads weathered Hurricane Harvey with relatively minimal damage, but officials warn that hundreds of millions of dollars in possible improvements stand between Houston area highways and further ruin.

Drivers in northeast Houston, meanwhile, should brace for a project in early 2018 that could complicate southbound traffic on Interstate 69 at the San Jacinto River.

Texas Department of Transportation officials, in a briefing before the Texas Senate Transportation committee, estimated Harvey’ s devastating winds that struck near Corpus Christi and the flooding deluge that followed cost the agency $185 million. Most of the cost, $110 million, was the direct result of damage to roads and bridges. The agency spent $58 million in overtime, salaries and travel expenses related to the storm.

The estimates only reflect the state’s transportation cost, not the additional millions of dollars counties and cities incurred as a result of flooding, erosion and

destroyed road signs and electronics.

Theamount of debris cleared from state roads, TxDOT Executive Director James Bass said, was massive. Officials calculate TxDOT crews and contractors cleared 18 million cubic feet of debris, enough to bury a football field in 310 feet of downed trees, brush and trash. ‘A fabulous job’

Senators praised TxDOT leadership and crews for their quick response to the storms and assistance to local officials dealing with their own road woes.

“You did a fabulous job,” said state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham. “I can’t say enough good about the efforts you all put forth.”

Work continues, though officials said the worst is behind them and they believe they will not find further significant damages. In TxDOT’s Houston district — Harris, Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Montgomery and Waller counties — officials already have approved and in most cases completed $20 million in emergency repairs, district engineer Quincy Allen said.

The most pressing repair, and one officials still are figuring out how to address, is the scouring of the foundations for the southbound Inter- state 69 bridge at the San Jacinto River, where water passed through with such force that it moved the concrete center barriers and washed away the supports of the concrete pillars.

“Long-term, we are going to have to go in and beef up the bridge supports,” Allen said.

Construction is set to start after Christmas, and Allen warned it could be substantial, including having to remove the roadway above the pillars.

TxDOT spokesman Danny Perez said officials are still coordinating specifics of the work, expected to cost between $10 million and $20 million.

“We do not have a timeline for how long the project may take,” Perez said. Building to avoid flooding

Lawmakers pressed transportation officials to identify projects that not only repair roads but also redesign them so they are not closed by flooding and damage in the future.

“We are rebuilding, so are we rebuilding smarter?” Sen. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, said. “Otherwise, we are going to be backto square one. … It seems we really need to rethink what we are doing.”

Rebuilding roads to avoid flooding is a consideration, but in many cases a costly one. Bass said engineers are looking at roadways that are candi- dates for elevation — simply building the road on a higher base — in places that frequently flood. In some cases, adifference of less than 30inches can make a huge difference.

Texas 6, which cuts through Addicks Reservoir north of Interstate 10 in western Houston and along the front of Barker Reservoir to the south, was closed for weeks in 2016 by flooding and again this year.

Elevating it, however, is “about a $200 million project,” said Allen, the head of TxDOT inH ouston.

For projects still in the planning stages, Allen said engineers are double-checking designs and making adjustments where warranted. The enormous redesign of Interstate 45 in downtown Houston, he said, will be designed above the 100-year-flood standard that is typical for major roadways.

Garcia asked whether Texas was risking losing out by not investing in infrastructure to avoid flooding, even if someof those huge costs could mean increasing taxes. Ultimately, it could cost Texas jobs and business investment, she said.

“If our areas get a reputation that they have to shut down too much as a result of storms, they will find another place,” Garcia said.