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| Vol. 22, No. 17 |
| September 15, 2000 |
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Fannin Street Project
About the time many Texas Medical Center visitors and employees are arriving home for dinner, construction crews are arriving on Fannin Street to continue nighttime work on the Fannin Street Project, a $6.7 million project that will reconstruct Fannin Street from South Braeswood to North MacGregor. When finished, the project will feature concrete and asphalt reconstruction of 5,800 feet of Fannin's six lanes. The two center lanes will be paved in asphalt to reduce impact of the future installation of a light rail transit system, approved by the METRO board Sept. 23 of last year. While some daytime work continues, construction crews have shifted their labors to the evening hours to have the least impact on traffic and emergency vehicles getting to hospital entrances off Fannin. The majority of the work is being done from 7 p.m. to 5 p.m., by two crews with eight to ten people in each. "We've reached the point in the project where water and sanitary sewer lines will be laid under the street. To do this, we need to close the entrance and exit driveways to some of the hospitals. The only realistic time to do this is at night," says Larry Weppler, resident engineer. Seven nights a week, heavy equipment operators, foremen, paving crews and pipe layers are working to bring the project to completion. Work began in October of last year, and is scheduled for completion in mid-March of 2001. The project is a joint effort by METRO and the City of Houston, and includes installation of an underground traffic signal interconnect system and improvement of sidewalks, signage and pavement markings. The City of Houston will upgrade utilities by installing new water mains and sanitary and storm sewer lines to replace many of the existing lines, some of which are more than 50 years old.
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