Reconstruction Of Greenbriar Dr.

[trymahjong]

Council Member Cohen and the Department of Public Works & Engineering invite you to an open house and presentation about the coming reconstruction of Greenbriar Street. The project will improve Greenbriar Street between Rice and W. Holcombe Boulevards.  Improvements will include new pavement, new underground utilities, wider sidewalks, and improved intersections for safer pedestrian crossing. The meeting will be held on Thursday, May 7th, 2015 from 6:00-7:30 at Roberts Elementary School.

[plumber2]

_{This section of Greenbriar contains one the most  kidney jarring sections of roadway in the area. It will be a mess for traffic while it is underconstruction , but sorely needed. Will it be completed by Super Bowl 2017?}

 

 

[HalfFast]

The city doesn't plan to start this project until 2017. Anyone that has driven on Greenbriar would agree it needs to be fixed. The question is whether the city is just going to fix what exists or expand Greenbriar to additional lanes. In my opinion, it should not be widened. Dozens of kids walk to Roberts Elementary each morning. Widening Greenbriar would heighten the risk for these kids to cross the street. The street is also lined with large oak trees that provide a canopy. Losing the oaks would devalue the homes in the area.

[Specwriter]

The question is whether the city is just going to fix what exists or expand Greenbriar to additional lanes. In my opinion, it should not be widened. Dozens of kids walk to Roberts Elementary each morning. Widening Greenbriar would heighten the risk for these kids to cross the street. The street is also lined with large oak trees that provide a canopy. Losing the oaks would devalue the homes in the area.

 

I don't see that widening Greenbriar is necessary. Kirby, Buffalo Speedway, and Main Street seem to do well carrying traffic north and south in that area. Besides, even though it is three lanes north of Rice Blvd., Greenbriar is a one way street and goes through a compact residential neighborhood all the way to US 59. Widening Greenbriar would just cause a bottle-neck at Rice Blvd. where north-bound traffic will be forced to turn left or right on that narrow street which will not be widened (Lord, I hope).

 

[KinkaidAlum]

A vast majority of the traffic traveling between US 59 down Greenbrier exits at Rice or University to get to the Med Center. I hope they don't plan on widening Greenbrier. People already drive too fast between Bissonnet and Sunset. I find myself screaming at cars to slow the F down almost daily.

[HalfFast]

I attended the meeting last Thursday. I was surprised with the effort the city put into addressing the concerns of the community and trying to build support for the effort. There were about 15 DPW employees there to answer questions. They had a nice visualization showing the neighborhood before and after the proposed changes.

 

They are keeping Greenbriar the same width from Rice to Holcombe. They expect to keep all of the trees. They are widening the sidewalks a bit to comply with code, but are going to work around the trees.

 

The plan will address some of the safety and traffic issues. There will be a dedicated right turn late in front of Roberts Elementary to deal with traffic backing up onto Greenbriar from the drop off line on Swift. This will prevent northbound traffic on Greenbriar from being backed up by morning/afternoon drop off and pick up. They are adding left and right turn lanes at Greenbriar and University.

 

The main concession for the community is that there will be no left turns from Greenbriar onto Swift.

 

The project will start in early 2017 and take the entire year.

 

I sure hope the city puts this amount of effort into building support in all communities affected by DPW projects. They exceeded my expectations.

[OkieEric]

I also attended and was really impressed with the number of DPW employees - they were very engaging and informative

 

I wish they had extended this reconstruction to Main St instead of Holcombe but I guess we'll just have to take what we can get.   There's not quite as much traffic on that stretch and it's not as bad in general but it's still in pretty rough shape