The Harris County Flood Control District is scheduled to begin construction on April 16 on the replacement of the Lawndale Street and Telephone Road bridges over Brays Bayou with higher, longer, and wider bridges to reduce the risk of flooding in the area.
The Harris County Flood Control District is scheduled to begin construction on April 16 on the replacement of the Lawndale Street and Telephone Road bridges over Brays Bayou with higher, longer, and wider bridges to reduce the risk of flooding in the area.
The Lawndale Street Bridge construction includes replacement of the current bridge with a new bridge that will have four 11-feet wide lanes, two 6-feet bike lanes, and 10-foot sidewalks on both sides of the bridge. The construction cost is estimated to be approximately $7.3 million with the City of Houston contributing toward the cost of the sidewalk and bike lane enhancements.
The City of Houston is also contributing toward the construction cost of the Telephone Road Bridge project which is estimated to be approximately $9 million with the sidewalk enhancements. The project includes replacement of the current bridge with a new bridge that will have four 11-feet wide lanes and 10-foot sidewalks on both sides of the bridge.
These two bridge replacement projects are part of the multiyear, $480 million Project Brays, which is a partnership effort between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Harris County Flood Control District. With the majority of the channel modifications completed, there are 13 bridge replacements or modifications that remain (including Lawndale and Telephone) along the bayou to reach the full benefits of Project Brays. The Flood Control District has completed 21 miles of channel improvements, built 4 stormwater detention basins covering more than 800 acres in size, and replaced or modified 19 bridges (of the 32 total bridges needing to be replaced) to bring Project Brays to more than 80 percent completion to date.
Two weeks before the bridge closures, mobile message boards were placed at each end of the two bridges to notify the public about the upcoming construction and related temporary street and trail detours.
When complete, Project Brays is expected to reduce flooding risks for more than 15,000 structures in the watershed. For more information, visit www.projectbrays.org.