Crystal Hills / Carriage Hill Paving Project
District G City Council Member Greg Travis helped get the ambitious paving project to repair Crystal Hills and Carriage Hill Drives. Newly-elected District G Council Member Mary Nan Huffman picked up the project and has been supporting it. The length of road included in the project is one of the longest stretches done in a neighborhood. Projects of this magnitude are normally reserved for major thoroughfares. So, although the project will undoubtedly inconvenience us all, in the end we will have a completed project that improves our roads for which we should be grateful.
This is intended to inform everyone of the following:
- Project Scope and Schedule
- Proposed Changes to Signage
- Damages
- Complaints
Project Scope and Schedule
The City of Houston has contracted Tikon Construction to repair the road that starts on Crystal Hills at Briar Forest and stretches to Carriage Hill up to its intersection with Kirkwood. The portion that includes all of Crystal Hills and Carriage Hill up to Lashbrook will include all the “panels”, i.e., a complete replacement. The remainder of Carriage Ill is in much better condition and will require the replacement of only the damaged panels: the density of damaged panels is high near Lashbrook and continually diminishes as you near Kirkwood. It is believed that the project will take from 30 to 90 days to complete. The broad range is due to uncertainties in weather and the availability of concrete.
As of this writing, they have completed the section of Crystal Hills to the just past the bend where it turns into Carriage Hill. Note that Tikon proactively called the COH and got approval to include an additional 100 feet of Gladewick that were not part of the original project: they saw that is was in as poor a condition as Crystal Hills. In their work, they are removing approximately 17 inches of the surface material, then laying down about 8 inches of base material and 9 inches of concrete.
The sunken condition of the roadway and the work done to repair the road sometimes causes problems. In a couple of cases. the aprons of the driveways were entering the roadway too low. In these cases, Tikon installed new aprons to allow the driveway to feed into the street correctly, working with the owners to coordinate timing. In other cases, there may be some problems in the alignment of the curbs and sidewalks. They intend to work with owners to cure these problems. They can easily add dirt to make it level, but may have issues in sodding the areas. If your property is affected by this, please be calm and work with Tikon to solve the problem.
Proposed Changes to Signage
Currently, there is confusion over the flow of traffic in the construction area. The flaggers aren’t extremely proficient and our residents are not always patient. There is only room for a single lane of traffic in the construction zone. The signs intended to divert traffic that doesn’t really need to travel down Crystal Hills to Gladewick are not very clear. I have asked them to place signs at both ends of Gladewick that announce “Construction Ahead” and “Detour” in addition to the simple arrow signs there now. Tikon will speak to COH about this for approval.
The following shows a view traveling west on Carriage Hill where turn arrows are shown, indicating you should turn on Gladewick. Since you don’t see the construction work from here, it is confusing.
Damages
Some damages to sidewalks and curbs have occurred. Tikon has committed to repairing anything damages they have caused.
Complaints
Please send any complaints by using the contact form below. We will forward them to Tikon’s Project Manager
