Will HWY 290 construction ever finish!!!??

[USAsoldier]

I pure and simple hate this HWY inbound and outbound between 610 and the new 99 Tollway!!

Anybody in the HWY construction bizz know why it takes so long to finish a project?

[chicagoboy]

MAJOR STUMBLING BLOCK ON US-290 AFTER TXDOT FIRES CONTRACTOR

[oilfieldscum]

^^^That story is a year old.


According to the website most sections are over 50% complete..some more than that.

http://www.my290.com/construction-updates.html

[Fishpie]

Houston will always stay under construction. Do you want us looking like that shit hole 3 hours north of us?

[USAsoldier]

Originally Posted by Fishpie

Houston will always stay under construction. Do you want us looking like that shit hole 3 hours north of us?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dallas sir? God no!

[submarineracer]

They keep working on it to fleece the people out of the same amount of cash annually.
If it never ends, the cookie jar is always there for empty hands.

[dtymh55]

It, will be like the Gulf Freeway. It has been under construction for 30 years that I konw of.

[Guest123018-4]

Yes the story is over a year old but it took until almost November of last year to rep;lace the Mexican owned contractor that defaulted on the contract for being way behind schedule. This is not the only contract they have defaulted on.

the good news is that as in almost all highway projects, they never really end which is a great jobs creator. Just look at the Gulf Freeway and I45 in general., it has always been under construction since I can remember and I have lived in Houston since the mid 50's.

The total completion date was to be in 2017 but it will be more like 2019. 2017 is the target date for the 290, 610, I10 interchange work but you will still get backed up by the rest of it going outound.

[Guest123018-4]

I forgot to mention all of the rain that will extend the completion date even more.

Road construction tqakes a long time, bridge construction takes even longer, major interchange replacement while keeping traffic passing through it with minimal closures takes even longer.

Funding can cause additional delays depending on how the projects payout is scheduled.
Moving dirt takes a lot of time, then you have to build the infrastructure to drain the water, then move some more dirt, then you prepare the subsurface so the road will last a reasonable amount of time. This does not count all of the engineering changes that have take place during the course of doing the project that causes additional delays.

All of the above does not even take into account all the studies, site surveys to identify what is there and exactly where it is and what to do with it before any drawings are even made to start the project. When it is all over we will have a state of the art 2001 roadway that will need to be redone to take care of what is projected for 2020. The road will be obsolete the day it is finished as it will have been designed on almost 20 year old information and projections.

Oh, you should be happy anything at all is being done as it was not originally scheduled for a redo until 2020. We are in fact getting much less than was planned for 2020 with no expansion of Hempstead highway into a toll road, no commuter rail from the northwest to Houston, and no elimination of the HOV except that the HOV will now be a toll road.

You want to build a road fast, make it a toll road that is paid for by bonds issued to be repaid with the tolls. It would take a fraction of the time especially if it is done by a private company with skin in the game. I love toll roads. No tax money and you only pay for it if you use it.

[tbone2u]

You're spot on 2-Dogs

[GlobeSpotter]

dosDogs bottom line was near the bottom....government izzzz the problem.

the government is not known for having good project management skills.

on the toll road comment,....part of that is actually that the road is typically greenfield as opposed to brownfield.

it's a lot easier and faster go lay down highway where there's not one as opposed to tearing up an old one first all while managing existing traffic.

I'm not cutting anyone slack...just sayin.

iirc, the pierce elevated was a better example of rapid renovation and upgrade. they offered a credible contractors rewards for being early and penalties for being late. i don't have the details but that one seemed to happen pretty fast.

[Slitlikr]

Low bidder.

[HoustonDan]

Hate to break it to you...but between the 45 downtown bypass and 610 west changes there will be constant migraines for the next fifteen years.

610 is going to be the worst of the two. No clue how anybody is going to get around over there. Just when 290/610 finishes, they'll start the 610 work. We're all fucked.

[Guest123018-4]

TS Dot actually does a pretty good job for a government organization. They generally are hindered by the funding and how and when it is paid.
I have seen finished stretches of road sit idle because the funding was done by quarters rather than monthly and the contractor would not turn it over until they were funded.

Had the Hempstead toll road been done first, this would have alleviated a lot of the traffic issues while eminent domain could take care of the 290 project so it could progress faster.
The westpark tollway is a similar project and it took very little time to build. Another example is how quickly the rest of the Beltway was done from 59 to I1 on the east side. Toll roads in Austin also were completed quickly via the private contractor investor relationship. Many people fail to understand how it works and actually believe that company owns the road.

[USAsoldier]

Good info The2Dogs!