District of Houston officials haven’t yet decided if there’s going to be an official re-opening of 9th Street to mark the completion of below and above ground improvements.
The project was to have been finished last fall but the early onset of cold weather delayed completion until this spring and now the COVID-19 pandemic is playing a role.
“We will continue monitoring provincial health orders and project progress which will inform a decision on proceeding with an ‘official’ re-opening,” says District of Houston chief administrative officer Gerald Pinchbeck.
Completed as of last fall were the underground works consisting of a new watermain on 9th from Hwy16 to the east side of the Poulton Ave. intersection, repairing sections of sanitary and storm drainage mains and removing old sidewalks.
New sidewalk work was well underway last week on 9th and workers were also installing benches.
Those benches carry the fish motif being seen elsewhere as a decorative and unifying theme to downtown modernization.
A schedule released by contractor Canyon Contracting/Terus Construction in April placed the planned finishing date as June 10.
Included in the overall budget for the 9th Street project is the completion of the Hwy16 sidewalk project. It was also delayed last fall because of weather.
The 9th Street sidewalks will be finished first before crews finish those on Hwy16.
All of this work is being called Phase 1 of a comprehensive and long-reaching program to rehabilitate and beautify the downtown core, part of a strategy to attract and then retain new businesses and residents. Phases 2 and 3 would rebuild 10th and 11th along the same lines as 9th.