The backstory
Construction could begin this spring on a separate element of the project that involves relining a 120-inch trunk sewer, which is the main sewer line that receives water from other lines throughout the neighborhood, according to project updates presented by city of Houston officials at a Jan. 23 meeting of the Westridge Civic Association. At that meeting, officials also discussed timelines for two phases of street repairs.
The street repair elements were initially removed from the scope of the drainage project, prompting an outcry from residents, who criticized the city for what they saw as reneging on promised repairs that were long overdue. In response, officials with the Houston Public Works Department brought the street repairs back into the project scope.
The details
The overall Westridge project is broken into three phases, according to HPW.
- Phase 1: The relining of the trunk sewer that runs between Timberside and Bevlyn drives, from South Braeswood Boulevard to Loop 610. The phase is slated for completion around the summer 2025.
- Phase 2: Street repairs in a northern segment of the target area, including northern parts of Bevlyn and Timberside, as well as Deal and Gannett streets, and Norris and Linkwood drives. Design work could kick off in the spring with construction starting early 2026.
- Phase 3: Street repairs in a southern segment of the target area, including southern parts of Bevlyn, as well as Elmridge, Cloverdale and Mariposa streets. The city will solicit design work this spring, but the design may not get underway until the fall 2025 with construction starting July 2027.
Street work will include the removal and replacement of all curbs, gutters and driveway aprons; new sidewalks on both sides of streets; installing a new streetlight system; and putting in new concrete pavement. Water pipes underneath the streets will be replaced as part of the process, according to HPW.
Digging in
Funding and timelines for phases 2 and 3 are expected to be laid out in the city's five-year Capital Improvement Plan, a new version of which gets adopted each July with the new fiscal year, Michael Ereti, HPW's director of capital projects, told attendees of the Jan. 23 meeting.
What they're saying
Attendees at the Jan. 23 meeting reiterated the urgency of repairs and questioned why construction on the third phase could not start until 2027. Westridge and Braes Terrace were both included on the city's "worst first" list in a 2010 prioritization of street repairs.
Ereti said 2027 is the soonest possible time for construction to begin to allow the project to be added to the CIP and go through the design process. Erati compared the repairs to tearing down a house and replacing it, instead of a simple remodeling job.
"If you're doing a remodeling for your kitchen ... you call a contractor, they rip out the cabinets and they replace them. You don't need any permitting; you don't need to coordinate with anyone," he said. "But if you're tearing down the entire house, now you need an architect, now you need permitting, now you need to coordinate with stakeholders. ... What we're doing with the streets is literally ripping it all out and getting a brand new street. It takes time to design and procure."
What's next
Construction on the sewer element and design work on the first phase of street repairs could begin this spring or early summer. The entire project is slated for completion around late 2027 or early 2028.
