The $1.25 million highway construction project on the northeast side of Houston is putting in two new turning lanes to accommodate incoming and outgoing Houston traffic.
Project supervisor Rob Cooper says construction work, scheduled to be complete by Oct. 31, is all individually contracted to local machine owners and operators, about 16 in total.
The construction will add two turning lanes from Highway 16 onto Williams Crescent, will widen the Williams Crescent entrance and take out the two intersections southwest of it, said Cooper.
The left-hand turn lane will keep turning drivers from injuring the flow of the passing lane coming out of town, says Cooper.
“This was a pretty high priority because I guess they've had a couple of really close calls - people just about getting rear-ended on the hill,” he added.
“Trouble is if you get something slow that you can’t see around, like a truck or something going up the hill, and somebody coming up behind them fast. They pull out to pass and there’s somebody parked turning left - things get exciting,” said Cooper.
The right-hand turn lane is so that turning traffic won’t slow the traffic coming into town, said Cooper.
Things are going well, said Cooper, and traffic will soon flow freely in and out of Houston again.