Rain again delays weekend work on U.S. 290

Closure for striping rescheduled for Sept. 21-24, canceling new lane openings for second time

Perhaps even Mother Nature just wants a break in the weekend closings along U.S. 290.

For the second consecutive weekend, wet weather will scuttle scheduled work to finish striping and hanging overhead signs on the westbound lanes from Pinemont to West Little York. Officials with the Texas Department of Transportation announced the cancellation Thursday, saying the work would be pushed back again, to Sept. 2124.

That means the new lanes will not open until the Monday morning commute Sept. 24, though the slight delay has no impact on the overall plan to open all freeway lanes by the end of the year from Loop 610 to Waller County.

“If it is something we need to reschedule another week, we might be cutting close to it affecting other work,” TxDOT spokeswoman Deidrea George said.

Rescheduling the work to a series of nights during the week is not practical, George said, because preparing the road and erecting signs is a time-consuming process and starting and stopping after eight-hour shifts would be cumbersome.

“It’s best to do it in one fell swoop,” she said.

The forecast, however, could rain on the plans for a third time. Early predictions call for rain on Sept. 21 and 22, but George is holding out hope.

“We will say next weekend until they tell me otherwise,” she said. dug.begley@chron.com twitter.com/DugBegley