Construction is underway on a $1.1 million project to add eye-catching style, safety features, additional drainage and even more improvements at five major intersections with highway US90A in the 5 Corners District.
The Gateway project is funded by Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone 25, which joins with TIRZ 9 and the 5 Corners District to plan, fund and oversee right-of-way improvements in the far southwest Houston area.
Because the Gateway project is worth celebrating, District K Council Member Martha Castex-Tatum, who serves as the city’s vice mayor pro tem, led a community celebration of the project’s start. The gathering at the Fountainlife Center on July 8, 2021 drew about 60 people who marveled at artist’s renderings of the project’s many features. Watch video highlights here.
“The part of the project that people will probably notice first and love the most is the multi-colored illumination of underpasses, along with the median improvements, combining into a visual statement that District K is a place of character, pride, spirit and success,” Castex-Tatum. “But in addition to the colorful lights, drainage upgrades, more visible pavement markings and related improvements will make this busy roadway safer,” she added.
The project will improve US 90A/South Main at, Fondren Road, Hillcroft Avenue, Chimney Rock Road, S. Post Oak Road and Hiram Clarke Road. The highway is the main corridor for travel between the District and the Sugar Land – Missouri City area.
Up Art Studio, which creates the mini-murals seen on traffic control boxes across the city, designed the rainbow-like vertical lighting features for each intersection.
“The project will be the newest trademark for a community that values public art, thanks largely to my predecessor, the late Larry Green, who made sure that the mini-murals we see all over town started right here in District K,” Castex-Tatum said.
Huitt-Zollars Inc. designed the project and D G MEDINA CONSTRUCTION LLP is the builder.
— by Alan Bernstein
