The new roadway design comprises of one-half major thoroughfare, conventional drainage, a 600-ft long bridge over Willow Fork Bayou, Retaining walls and intersection improvements at FM 1463 (including traffic signals and illumination).
The purpose of this project was to convert the existing at-grade crossing of Brazoria County Road 56 (CR 56) and State Highway 288 (SH 288) into a diamond interchange that includes a new overpass bridge. Coordination with TXDOT, area landowners, utility companies, and Brazoria County was integral in obtaining approval and acceptance of the project.
EHRA completed preliminary engineering, phase one environmental site assessment and schematic development for the widening of Northpark Dr. between US 59 and Woodland Hills Dr. EHRA also provided program management, drainage analysis and design, traffic engineering, environmental documentation and schematic design for the roadway, as well as grade separation at the Loop 494/UPRR railroad crossing.
EHRA conducted traffic operations and access management studies for the Northpark Dr. corridor. This corridor is approximately 2.2 miles long and has major signalized and unsignalized intersections and driveways that access various subdivisions and industrial developments. These studies laid the groundwork for the widening of Northpark Dr. from a four-lane boulevard cross-section to a six-lane boulevard complete street. The new street design includes low impact development drainage, conventional drainage, a grade separation at the UPRR crossing with mechanically stabilized earth retaining walls, two at-grade crossings for bi-directional frontage access, reconstruction of two concrete bridges over a diversion channel, intersection improvements, a roadway-adjacent multiuse path and traffic signal improvements.
Drainage analysis and design included hydrologic and hydraulic studies of both existing and proposed conditions to demonstrate that proposed project components would not adversely affect the 100-year floodplain in the area. The roadway and traffic designs contained horizontal and vertical alignments, cross-sections, plan and profile, sidewalk and bicycle accommodations, intersection layouts, traffic control plans and signing and pavement markings.
As the program management firm, EHRA coordinated with TxDOT, UPRR, the City of Houston Council District E, COH Planning and Development Department, COH Public Works and Engineering Department, Montgomery County, Harris County, HCFCD and area residents throughout the project.
EHRA planners, hydrologists and landscape architects worked together to propose an alternative use for the space, re-developing the basin into an amenity pond. EHRA carefully selected native plant materials for both their ability to survive in the harsh conditions of the basin as well as providing filtration for improved storm water quality.
EHRA conducted a traffic engineering study to identify the impacts of a proposed master development located near the intersection of FM 1488 and Peoples Road in the City of Conroe.
While Hurricane Harvey is in the rear view for many in the Greater Houston area, many are still displaced and rebuilding. The Houston area will need billions of dollars in flood control improvements and increased regulation to prevent rising damage from future floods, regional leaders said . But no one, they said, has yet identified who will pay for those projects. Seven Houston area leaders -- politicians, scientists, and lawyers -- met recently at the Houston Chronicle for a public forum on recovery from Hurricane Harvey, which unleashed catastrophic floods that killed at least 80 people and damaged an estimated 150,000 homes. The recovery is expected to cost more than $100 billion . The forum's speakers argued for the transformation of neighborhoods into green spaces and the dredging of reservoirs. They called on residents to lobby federal officials for more money to finance these and other flood control measures. Jeff Lindner , the Harris County Flood Control District meteorologist, said the region needs to consider buying out and abandoning entire neighborhoods. "We cannot live in some of these areas anymore because they are going to flood time and time again, and there is structurally nothing we can do about it," Lindner said. "We have to start accepting that fact." Southwest Houston's Meyerland, for example, has flooded three times in the past three years; so many homes were damaged, complete streets are now dark at night, residents staying elsewhere while their homes are renovated. Saving Meyerland would require buying out not just homes but the land of a local golf course so engineers could widen Brays Bayou and increase its capacity to hold flood water. Longtime resident Bess Bright commented recently that she can no longer take evening walks in her neighborhood because it is dark. "There's just no one there," she said.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett lobbied to dredge Lake Conroe and Lake Houston , to the city's north and east, so they can hold greater volumes of floodwaters. But the leaders offered no solutions for two of Houston's gravest flooding concerns -- the segregation of the poor into flood-prone neighborhoods and the area's unbridled western growth, governed by a patchwork of municipal utility districts. The region is banking on federal dollars to pay for big-ticket projects like a third reservoir in the northwest to stem flooding behind the Addicks dam, which holds back flood water and protects the inner-city from flooding. But the federal government won't provide enough, they agreed.
Source: Houston Chronicle