Michael Reed of the West University Examiner reports that the fifty thousand or so drivers who use Kirby Dr. each day are in for a bit of change, come the end of the year:
Sometime before the year-end holidays, though — and for at least the two years that follow — the definition of “average day” will be drastically altered by construction work that will systematically reduce the number of lanes by half, with no such reduction in traffic likely.
“West University is like an innocent bystander in this,” said project manager Martin J. Cristofaro of the Houston Stormwater Management Program. “Still, you’re looking at major impact in the community. Right around Christmas is when you’re really going to see something.”
The “something” Cristofaro referred to is the fallout from the Kirby Drive Storm Sewer Relief Project, as its crane and heavy equipment approach Holcombe Boulevard. The Kirby project is the largest of three systems that make up the $72 million Medical Center Drainage Project, which recently began at North Braeswood Boulevard and will move slowly north until at least late 2007.
During this period, each of the more than half-mile long project segments will require the closing of one lane in each direction of the street.
The cost?
The project, which is being built entirely on city of Houston land, will cost that city about $18 million or 25 percent of the total price, with the federal government supplying the rest of the funding. Recently, Baylor College of Medicine and the Methodist Hospital System each donated $2.5 million toward Houston’s costs. If all goes well, paving will be completed in mid-2008.
