Greenroads Certified Silver

Bagby Street Reconstruction

 

Summary

Lowest Bidder: $9.6 million

Project Length: 0.62 miles (1.24 lane-miles)

Owner: Midtown Redevelopment Authority, Houston, TX

Lead Design: Walter P Moore

Design Support: Design Workshop

Contractor: SER Construction Partners

Functional Class: Collector

Greenroads Version: v1.5

Description

The Bagby Street Reconstruction Project is the first Greenroads project in Texas, redeveloping a deteriorating ten-block corridor in the dense, urban, and rapidly developing Midtown neighborhood of Houston. The existing asphalt surface was is in poor condition with severe cracking, potholes, and patching evident throughout. In addition to surface rehabilitation the Project provides an improvement to pedestrian and parking facilities with access to local businesses and the Midtown Park, as well as low-impact development technologies. Space for these upgrades was found by implementing a road-diet, as traffic studies determined that the four-lane one-way collector could comfortably be reduced to two lanes.

Features

Sustainable features on the project revolved around the goal of accommodating traffic while enhancing pedestrian accessibility and promoting development, in addition to stormwater improvements and responsible material practices. Specific features included:

• Artistic elements incorporated into sidewalks, seating, planters, and bollards
• Over 50,000 sf of sidewalk area, significantly reduced crosswalk lengths
• Energy efficient LED street lighting
• Rain gardens used to attenuate stormwater flows
• $25 million of private development encouraged by project
• Pavement designed for 40 year design life
• 25% of Portland cement replaced with recycled materials

Update! This 2013 Project included a critical drainage improvement project with features, such as rain gardens and landscaping in the right-of-way, that were designed to filter harmful contaminants before any runoff could reach the Buffalo Bayou. In the summer of 2017, Hurricane Harvey put the Greenroads sustainability certification to the test and the Project emerged as an excellent example of resilient and high-performing infrastructure.