The roughly $52 million project, which will expand Northpark Drive from four to six lanes between I-69 and Russell Palmer Road and add an overpass over the Union Pacific Corp. railroad and Loop 494, is scheduled to begin in the spring. The contract for the project was awarded to Harper Brothers Construction at the board’s Dec. 8 meeting.
Jon Harper, president and CEO of Harper Brothers Construction, addressed the board at the Jan. 12 meeting.
“We are a diversified heavy civil construction company,” Harper said. “That gives us a unique ability to self-perform a large component of work, and that's a benefit to our clients, because we can control our own destiny for critical activities.”
Houston Mayor Pro Tem Dave Martin, who represents District E, which includes Kingwood, said he hoped to soon see a preliminary engineering plan that would address traffic flow related to the project.
“The biggest complaint we have in Kingwood ... is traffic congestion,” Martin said. “We have basically two ways in and out of Kingwood going east and west, and that's Northpark [Drive] and Kingwood Drive. ... It’s really critical for us to get this thing nailed down and make sure that ... disruption is minimized.”
Philip Ivy, vice chair of the LHRA board of directors, stressed tresidents should visit the LHRA website to ensure they are receiving accurate information.
“I happened to see people posting conversation [on Facebook] about what was going to happen on Northpark [Drive], and I'm amazed at how inaccurate they are,” Ivy said.
LHRA Administrator Ralph De Leon said updates to the project, including traffic control plans, would be made available on the entity’s website.
“We’ll have aerial flyovers with drone technology, so hopefully all of that will be able to help folks who are commuting on a daily basis,” De Leon said.
The city of Houston has contributed roughly $9.5 million toward the project with TIRZ 10 picking up the remainder of the bill, budget documents show.
