Gessner widening has some residents wary
Some south of Westheimer worried $11.4 million project will not address flooding
While residents along Gessner north of Westheimer were relieved the city of Houston won’t be widening the roadway from four-to-six lanes as originally proposed, residents south of Westheimer were disheartened about the new plan, because they don’t believe it will address flooding.
Barbara Kelley and Madeline Wicker, who live east of Gessner, south of Westheimer, said the new plan, presented at a public meeting April 13 at the Tracy Gee Community center in West Houston, won’t reduce flooding during heavy rain events if the water continues to be diverted to the ditch that runs behind their neighborhood. They also questioned the need to expand the stretch of Gessner between Richmond and Westheimer to six lanes, when the Westpark Tollway and Beltway 8 are in such close proximity.
“The entire area needs more drainage,” Kelley said. “We don’t need another wider thoroughfare.”
Wicker’s house has flooded three times since 1997, and she blames development in Westchase and a lack of planning to mitigate drainage and flooding.
“We didn’t buy a house that floods,” said Wicker, who grew up in the area and bought her
house in 1987.
“People don’t realize how devastating it is to have your home flooded.”
Wicker said dozens of homes in her Westmont subdivision are prone to flooding because the ditch can’t cope with storm water run off.
The women agreed the project would be a perfect opportunity to properly address drainage, possibly diverting storm water to Buffalo Bayou or creating detention areas to store storm water.
The $11.4 million project, scheduled under Rebuild Houston for 2018, calls for full reconstruction of the three-quarter mile roadway between Richmond and Westheimer to include six-foot sidewalks, new pavement with lane expansion from four-to-six lanes, reconfiguration of the medians, intersection improvements and storm, sanitary and waterline improvements.
Improvements between the one-mile stretch of Gessner from Westheimer to Buffalo Bayou include limited panel replacement, improvements for turn lanes at the Briar Forest and Westheimer intersections and new traffic signals.
Trees identified by ordinance will be protected, either by relocating them or replacing them, as necessary.
Mark Loethen, of Public Works and Engineering, said the project is vital to the area to improve mobility, the pavement, drainage and pedestrian safety.
Construction is scheduled to start in two years or more, plenty of time, Loethen said, to allow for rebuilding the bridge at Memorial and Gessner, a project that recently got under way and is proving to be a headache for residents and commuters.
Loethen said the Gessner project will be done in phases and pledged it will be done with maximum efficiency and in the most cost efficient manner.
Residents north of Westheimer who fought the six-lane proposal were heartened by the city’s change of plan, but wary.
“I’m pleased, but it’s hard to trust the city, because they don’t always do what they say they’re going to do,” Carolyn Holland said.
John Ramey was concerned that the proposal to widen Gessner north of Westheimer might resurface, but overall felt better about the new plan.
District G Councilman Greg Travis said he listened to community members who showed up en masse to a District G Capital Improvement Project meeting more than a year ago to protest the original plan to add more lanes on Gessner north of Westheimer.
At that meeting, many walked out when city officials didn’t immediately address their concerns.
“Because of your efforts a lot of what you are going to see tonight is because of you,” Travis told the crowd of about 100. “We want to make sure you are heard.”
With the initial planning stages drawing to a close, an engineering firm has been contracted for the design phase.
Construction is slated to start mid-2018, depending on funding, and is expected to take about 18 months to complete.
For more information, visit www.rebuildhouston.org/