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| Vol. 21, No. 14 |
| August 1, 1999 |
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Fannin Street Project to Begin by ROGER WIDMEYER Texas Medical Center News
Plans have been finalized for a major surface and utility renovation of Fannin Street, from South Braeswood Blvd. to North MacGregor Dr. The approximately one mile length of the street will be completely resurfaced, and new public utilities - water, sewage and flood drain pipes - will be constructed under the street's surface. The City of Houston and the Metropolitan Transit Authority will share the cost of the $5.9 million project. Requests for proposals to contractors have been advertised, and the METRO board of directors will select the major construction company at its September board meeting. Construction will begin soon after that. Two bids have been requested, one for approximately 600 days of work on the project, and another for approximately 400 days, which would entail work 24 hours a day. "It's in everyone's best interest to have this project completed as soon as possible," says Shirley DeLibero, president and CEO of METRO. "Fannin Street is a major transit lane for our city, and it is in desperate need of repair." (The Fannin Street project is part of a 22-mile reconstruction program being done by METRO and the City of Houston. The Main Street portion of the project was completed two years ago; there was no utility infrastructure work done.) "All of us within the Texas Medical Center are grateful to METRO and the City of Houston for making a commitment to this project," says Dr. Richard Wainerdi, president, CEO and COO of Texas Medical Center. "The increasingly heavy traffic has virtually crumbled sections of Fannin, and the storm sewer system is no longer capable of adequate drainage during a heavy rain." Management at the institutions along Fannin Street agree. "We are pleased that the Fannin Street construction project will be getting underway soon," says Peter Butler, president and CEO of Methodist Health Care System. "Adequate infrastructure is critical to meet the needs of those who commute to or through the area. The project is necessary and we are very supportive of METRO and the City of Houston's efforts to improve the roads and utilities in this area. The Texas Medical Center, its patients, employees and visitors will all benefit from this endeavor."
Mark Wallace, executive director of Texas Children's Hospital, says "This will be a very significant accomplishment, and it will benefit all of the institutions. We appreciate the planning behind it, the work by METRO, the City of Houston and Dr. Wainerdi. At Texas Children's, we're doubling our size, not just in square feet but also in patient activity, so it is imperative that the utility work is accomplished." Four Phases
In order to affect traffic flow as little as possible, the project will be done in four phases. In phase one, the median strip and the northbound and southbound lanes closest to it will be removed; temporary pavement will be laid in the where the median and traffic lanes were. In phase two, traffic will be limited to the east side of Fannin: two northbound lanes will be closest to the east property lines and the two northbound lanes will be on the temporary pavement in the middle of the street. Phase three will reverse this: the southbound lanes with be next to the west property lines and the northbound lanes will be on the temporary pavement. Finally, the center median will be restored and traffic will flow in the customary lanes, three southbound and three northbound. In phases one and two, utility work will be done. On the west side of Fannin, a sanitary sewer line will be laid at a depth ranging from 16 feet to 20 feet. A new storm sewer line will also be laid, at a depth of 10 feet; the storm pipe will increase in diameter from 24 inches to 36 inches at Dryden Street. In phase three, a water main will be laid on the east side of Fannin, at a depth of six feet. "The utilities are 50 years old, and they will continue to deteriorate," says Edwin E. Friedrichs, P.E., senior vice president of Walter P. Moore, a structural, traffic and parking engineering company that has done considerable work with most of the Texas Medical Center institutions over the years. Frederick is chief engineer on the project. "Importantly, the new utilities will have the capacity to serve the new facilities." The City of Houston will be laying the utilities, frequently called "betterments" in this type of renovation project. "We have the responsibility for drainage, and it's a very big deal for us," says Jerry King, director of Houston Public Works Department. "We want to solve flooding problems. There has been phenomenal growth in the Texas Medical Center, and a great deal of development all along Fannin, so we are redesigning the storm drainage system to carry more water. Run off has exceeded .the existing system." Private utilities - Southwestern Bell and Reliant Energy (the former Houston Lighting and Power, or HL&P) will also be renovating and adding their lines. "Because there are so many existing utilities, there will be a few `areas of conflict,' a term we use to denote areas where the utilities are close together and we may, for example, lower the depth for our water main at that point to accommodate the private utility, or vice-versa," says Robert Taube, vice president at Walter P. Moore and former director of the streets program at METRO. During the project, the contractors will make sure the entrances to facilities off Fannin will be open; uniformed officers will be at these locations to ensure there is accessibility. Of the six Fannin lanes (three in each direction), the two outside southbound and two outside northbound will be laid with reinforced concrete. The two center lanes closest to the median will be laid with asphalt. This is being done in order to accommodate the laying of light rail tracks for the proposed light rail system linking downtown to the Astrodome area.
"This is a great corridor," says METRO's Dilibero. "It would be sensible to have this as the first piece of the light rail system, which would eventually have lines spreading outward." Before joining METRO in January, Delibero had worked at four transit systems - in Boston, Washington, D.C., Dallas (where she initiated light rail) and, most recently, at the highly regarded New Jersey Transit. All four cities have rail as part of the transit system. "Fannin is very compatible for light rail, more so than Main Street which was the initial plan." Delibero says any rail construction would be at least four years away.
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