Brays Bayou Master Plan

[mollusk]

It's very difficult to generalize, since each flood event is different.  For example, at my house in Woodland Heights we got water all the way up to the front steps during Allison (how it didn't get into the garage remains a mystery); during Harvey it only came halfway up the front yard, but it came up and went down twice.  According to very old neighbors Allison had more flooding in our neighborhood than during the mega floods of the 1930s.

[Highrise Tower]

Greenbriar and N. Braeswood. They're replacing the bridge. Also making a new concrete walking path.

 

[Texasota]

Curious to see how the new trail look. Always thought of the trails through here as the "death trails" because theyre right up against the edge and slanted toward the (concrete-lined) bayou.

[Highrise Tower]

Getting proper infrastructure ready for the large 7200 Development. Or, one would hope.

 

 

[X.R.]

Oh snap! They took down the bridge! 

 

This part of the trail, and a bit further down where they are extending/reworking it towards 610, has taken so long. I don't really understand it since with this bridge they have been slowly working on it since July. Crazy the amount of work they are doing on this bayou, you have this bridge and the pathway and then on Macgregor you have the same type of construction going on. The new design of the bridges are supposed to help with flooding, and there will be walk/bike path components to both.   

[Luminare]

1 hour ago, X.R. said:

Oh snap! They took down the bridge! 

 

This part of the trail, and a bit further down where they are extending/reworking it towards 610, has taken so long. I don't really understand it since with this bridge they have been slowly working on it since July. Crazy the amount of work they are doing on this bayou, you have this bridge and the pathway and then on Macgregor you have the same type of construction going on. The new design of the bridges are supposed to help with flooding, and there will be walk/bike path components to both.   

My biggest issue with these new bridges is that they are still being built at-grade. Instead they should be built up by another 10-15ft or so. While they might assist with the flood problem they will still flood themselves during a large flood event.

Edited November 11, 2019 by Luminare

[Luminare]

36 minutes ago, Toopicky said:

 

So will the surrounding areas so no one could use it anyway ....besides , to elevate it 10-15 feet would require extensive road realignments and possibly imminent domain confiscation of property.

 

...and?

[Houston19514]

2 hours ago, Luminare said:

My biggest issue with these new bridges is that they are still being built at-grade. Instead they should be built up by another 10-15ft or so. While they might assist with the flood problem they will still flood themselves during a large flood event.

 

At least some of them (Greenbriar and Buffalo Speedway for sure) are being built higher than the former bridges, in addition to being longer and having fewer piers.

 

[bobruss]

Thats probably the most important part of the rebuilds. They are widening the ditch from the concrete up so that it will hold more water and the bridge structure won't hold back water nearly as much as the old bridges. They are also doing this  at Ardmore east of 288 and will be widening this side all the way to Calhoun where it goes natural.

This will all help in bottlenecks on the bayou that slow the flow and raise the elevation of the water behind the old bottlenecks. I still have issues with 288 and the bottleneck it creates on the Brays. I don't know why they didn't figure out a way to go over MacGregor when they first built this freeway. It always goes under during heavy flooding.

[Ross]

On 10/18/2019 at 11:33 AM, samagon said:

I was curious...

 

30 acre feet = 9775542 gallons.

 

which isn't really helpful. 

 

does this mean that houses that got 3 feet of water during Harvey are going to get 2 feet of water next time?

 

or does it mean that houses that got 2 feet of water during Allison are going to get 1 foot 6 inches of water next time?

 

at least it's only a 1.2 million project, and hopefully means more park area to be used in the area?

It means that there is storage for 30 acre feet, which could do any number of things. At its most basic, it means 30 acres could have 1 less foot of water in the next flood event. In any case, more storage is always good.

[Highrise Tower]

Article and map.

 

[samagon]

On 11/11/2019 at 7:07 PM, Ross said:

It means that there is storage for 30 acre feet, which could do any number of things. At its most basic, it means 30 acres could have 1 less foot of water in the next flood event. In any case, more storage is always good.

 

thanks for the explanation!

[Highrise Tower]

 

 

[bobruss]

Is this Buffalo Speedway?

[rechlin]

5 minutes ago, bobruss said:

Is this Buffalo Speedway?

 

No, construction hasn't started yet on Buffalo Speedway.  This is Greenbriar.

[X.R.]

Sad that people can mistake this construction for various places along the Bayou because of how long this has taken.

 

Its kind of ruined these "hundreds of miles" of bike paths the city likes to talk about. Yesterday was a beautiful day to be on the bike, and met 6 or 7 people who were like "uhh we can't ride the Bayou because every mile or two there is more construction." The old-houston slow construction doesn't make much sense when you have 40 story multi-family going up in a year and a half. Just wish this would be finished soon so people can get the flood relief they deserve and the old bike system can go back to normal.

 

Also, one of the construction workers that helped with the bayou expansion by the Cistern by buffalo bayou was saying the greenery they are planting there will be more of what will be seen over here. 

Edited December 2, 2019 by X.R.

[bobruss]

I know how frustrating it is for the bike paths to be blocked , but the work that is being done on the bayou will have a much more positive affect on the neighborhoods that front the bayou, and hopefully mitigate some of the flooding that occurs regularly. Once these projects are finished everything will be much better. With the addition of another detention pond on Brays at 610 this should really help in the recurring flood issues and I'm sure that the landscaping and bike trails will be improved. I know they are adding new trails east of 288 all the way to Calhoun. This is all for the good of everyone.

[samagon]

and once the bridges are complete, that's 30 years of uninterrupted flow that is overall better than it was before, not just for car traffic, but for bike/jogging.

[Highrise Tower]

Looks like the detention at 610 & Braeswood started.

 

[Highrise Tower]

 

 

[Highrise Tower]

2nd retention basin started.  Total of three are going there.

 

 

[ArtNsf]

15 hours ago, ekdrm2d1 said:

2nd retention basin started.  Total of three are going there.

 

 

so glad they are upgrading and making the bayous and trails so much better and even adding so many more!  very good for Houston and attracting newcomers and tourists alike.  they are thinking in the right direction using runoff water retention basins.  but, I believe that eventually, in our lifetimes, a very LARGE and deep 3rd damn (like Addicks and Barker damns only grander in scale) will be necessary.  This combined with buying out and demolishing existing homes that sit out obviously on the floodplains, and simply making those areas protected green spaces and public parks, will go a long way to keep Houston higher and drier than previous "tax day" or "1000 year" floods have done to our city.  We are a giant metropolis with tons of resources.  there is absolutely nothing stopping us from at least trying to realistically fix the constant flooding problems (the extreme ones that is...), except a pure LACK of priority and wanting to do so by those with the means to do so and the City/County/State/Federal authorities. 

[Highrise Tower]

3rd basin started.

 

[Smacgregor]

The Ardmore bridge reconstruction is really moving along. Can't be done soon enough with the new HEB open just down the street.

[hindesky]

I too took a pic of it but didn't even think to find it in Going Up. Keep looking in the 3rd Ward section and Transportation.

[Triton]

Wow! Used to take that bridge every morning to go to UofH. Really curious what the end result will look like

[X.R.]

I keep think that the craziest thing about Corona is that people will leave the stay at home order/quarantine and half the road and bridge projects in the city will have been completed or have substantial amount of work completed. Brays especially. This bridge, and the bridge going towards Braeswood and the retention are all flying. 

[hindesky]

[cspwal]

I was thinking about that - now would be the perfect time to trench 59 where the light rail crosses, since passenger volumes are way down so a bus bridge is more feasible

 

Also traffic on 59 is almost non-existent 

[Amlaham]

I feel like all road construction will advance now while the city pushes lower Westheimer construction to 2032