What you need to know
Officials with the Montrose Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone sent the final design plans for the first segment of the project to Houston officials in late December.
Mayor John Whitmire’s administration approved the plan in January, which included the changes made to accommodate the city’s newly created mobility guidelines. After design was approved, the improvement project went out to bid and received four submissions by Feb. 13.
On Feb. 17, the Montrose TIRZ board of directors approved a $17.9 million construction bid for Segment 1 of the project, which covers Montrose Boulevard from Allen Parkway south to West Clay Street.
TIRZ officials selected MC2 Civil LLC as the contractor for the job. The company produced the lowest of the four submitted bids, which still came in 8.97% higher than the initial $16.4 million estimate, according to the agenda item.
Director Jeffrey Watters voted against the item, stating that he did not agree with the design changes that most Montrose residents have repeatedly voiced their disagreement for.
More details
Several Montrose residents attended the Feb. 17 meeting and pleaded with the board to vote against the construction bid, asking officials to meet with Houston leaders to change the design back to its original plan.
The original plan included creating wider sidewalks and a shared-use path, as well as reducing the size of vehicle lanes. However, in order to comply with Whitmire’s new mobility principles, the revised plan included maintaining the 12-foot vehicles lanes and scrapping the shared-use path.
Montrose TIRZ officials said while they did engage in conversation with Whitmire’s administration regarding the public’s pushback against the new plan, concerns were ultimately dismissed due to the former plan configurations not fitting within the new mobility guidelines, which requires all transportation projects to:
- Maintain general purpose land widths and numbers
- Provide safe sidewalks and pedestrian crossings
- Ensure reliable service for emergency responders
According to previous Community Impact coverage, the first phase of construction is anticipated to take approximately 12 months to complete.
Also on the agenda
Montrose TIRZ officials also approved an additional design proposal to the Montrose Safe Routes to School Connections Project.
The project scope includes reconstructing 4.5 miles of sidewalks around the block from Fairview Street to West Dallas Street and Taft Street to Eberhard Street to improve pedestrian safety for those commuting daily to three nearby Houston ISD campuses.
Gauge Engineering, the engineer on the project, updated the design plan to include seven additional sidewalks to the project, which include:
- Bomar Street: Grant Street to Stanford Street
- Willard Street: Montrose Boulevard to Taft Street
- Welch Street: Van Buren Street to Taft Street
- Fargo Street: Converse Street to Taft Street
- Hopkins Street: Bomar Street to Welch Street
- Whitney Street: Bomar Street to Welch Street
- Morgan Street: Bomar Street to Welch Street
