Consultants hired by the District of Houston have come up with a way to change the look of the decorative poles installed as part of the 9th Street reconstruction project and scheduled to be replicated when 10th Street is redone this year.
And that’s to affix a curved steel decorative feature where the horizontal beams meet the vertical poles.
“There have been concerns expressed that the catenary poles erected on 9th Street as part of Phase One of the Downtown Revitalization Project resemble biblical crosses,” District operations director Mike Cooper outlined in a memo to counci.
“The small changes could mitigate concerns that the poles look like crosses and could add a decorative design element to the area.”
Each pole would have two curved steel features installed, one where the cross beam meets the vertical pole at an upper right angle and one where the cross beam meets the pole at a lower right angle.
Council approved of the design change and of spending $1,200 for two curved steel additions for each pole.
At 16 poles — the eight already on 9th and a second eight for 10th — the bill would come to $19,200 and that would include shipping.
A price, including installation, would come to $40,000 but Cooper said District crews could take care of that portion of the work. That would then lower the complete cost to $24,000.
The project money will come from the Northern Capital and Planning Grant provided to the District in 2019 and 2020.