Easing Congestion on Eastex

Kingwood Residents to Catch a Break From Freeway Expansion

The reconstruction of U.S. Highway 59, or Eastex Freeway, will promote greater mobility in one of the most densely populated areas in northeast Houston.

by Jennifer Brenner Andrade

Construction continues north of Northpark for the new mainlanes of the Eastex Freeway. The work zone is clearly established between the northbound mainlanes and frontage road. (Photo courtesy Texas Sterling.)

Commuters in the popular north Houston suburb of Kingwood will catch a break next year as the 2.2-mi. section of U.S. 59 (Eastex Freeway), which extends from Northpark Dr. to the Harris County Line, is expanded from four to eight lanes. In addition, two overpasses will be converted to underpasses to allow for future expansions of the road.

The $58.6 million project is currently 30 percent complete in 30 percent of the time allotted, said Norm Wigington, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Transportation. Houston-based Texas Sterling Construction LP broke ground on the project in September 2004. It is slated for completion in the same month of 2007.

Wigington said converting the overpasses to underpasses will not only bring the fairways up to current construction codes, but will make future expansions of the Eastex freeway more feasible. He said TxDOT offers the contractor a $37,500 per day bonus with a 20-day cap and maximum pay out of $750,000 on each underpass.

Kingwood is a 14,000-acre master-planned community 23 mi. northeast of downtown Houston. The Friendswood Development Co. first began creating neighborhoods in the heavily wooded area they termed "the livable forest" in 1971. The population has since grown from just a few hundred people to more than 65,000 residents and an additional 200,000 people that live within a 10-mi. radius of the community.

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The widened road will ease congestion in one of the most heavily traveled areas of town. According to Houston TranStar's 2004 Annual Report, cars commuting through the 5.1-mi. section of the Eastex Freeway from Townsen Blvd. to the North Belt, which includes the section currently under construction, spend an average of 10,400 hours per year sitting in traffic. This amounts to about $182,900 per year per car when time is valued at an average of $17.59 per vehicle hour.

Brian Manning, executive vice president of Houston-based Texas Sterling Construction, said that the demolition and rebuilding of the passes at Northpark and Kingwood drives in the midst of ongoing commuter traffic will prove difficult. The bridges will be razed and rebuilt as underpasses in 70-day intervals beginning with Northpark Drive by summer. There will be a 30-day resting period between >> the construction of each underpass. According to Manning, there will be "a series of detours that will direct commuters to two different routes." But managing a project in the midst of live traffic is never easy, he said. He added that TxDOT has a fantastic preplanning system worked out for managing such situations.

A view looking south from the Northpark bridge, which will soon be demolished, shows retaining walls for the northbound approaches being built. (Photo courtesy of Texas Sterling.)

n addition to TxDOT's traffic-management system, Sterling plans to work around-the-clock shifts to be responsive to the needs of commuters and will likely take other measures such as reconfiguring or combining construction phases to make the project move smoothly and quickly, said Jeff McCall, project superintendent.

McCall said there were unexpected underground drainage problems with regards to the bridges, which required some small redesigns that were quickly handled by the project engineer. He added that projects like these require the "willingness to adjust and the ability to adjust." An agile approach to projects allows the contractor to find efficiencies and quickly employ them in tight situations, McCall said.

Manning and McCall said the project will not be affected by the material shortages the hurricanes have created. Manning said the materials for the job were pre-ordered and are already in place. "We are using recycled material, which helps control cost," Manning said.