Houston is in store for a monumental revamp. What began as a proposal to replace bus curb lanes since grew into a $12 million infrastructure revitalization project of regions of Westheimer in order to improve traffic flow, enhance streets and sidewalks, and improve bus shelters.
The project will be a collaboration between the City of Houston and METRO that will see road repairs, accessibility upgrades in sidewalks, and improvements in bus stops. Furthermore, the project will include resurfacing the entire width of the street in specific sections of Westheimer between Bagby Street and IH-610.
“Any decision we make to grow or change infrastructure will be initiated with a customer-first mindset and a responsibility to be good stewards of taxpayer resources,” said Mayor John Whitmire in a statement.
“METRO’s new leadership and I are honoring our commitment to immediately get to work providing citizens with mobility options and a best-in-class mode of transit, accountability, and efficiency.”
As noted in the press release, the project removes the necessity of repaving center lanes as a separate project in order to spend less taxpayer money.
“We are proud to collaborate with Mayor Whitmire on making Houston a better place to work, live and play. We will do our part by implementing safe street, sidewalk, and bus shelter initiatives.,” METRO Chairman Elizabeth Gonzalez Brock said in a release.
“The decision to expand this project is cost-effective, causes less disruption for drivers in the long term, and will extend the life of the pavement. An improvement like this is just one of many opportunities we have to put the needs of both our customers and the citizens who commute alongside METRO first and foremost.”
The multi-million-dollar project is set to start construction this April.