Finally! Maybe? Bissonnet street/drainage project reportedly nearing completion

After nearly three years, the Bissonnet Street improvement project may be coming to an end.

“Crews on Bissonnet Street will be very busy the next few weeks as they complete the street improvement project,” according to a statement Monday (April 15) from the Upper Kirby District, a management district that has been managing the work.

Over the next two weeks, the statement reads, workers will finish installing pavers and cobblestone, finish paving the intersection with Kirby Drive, complete installation of lighting and streetlights on the south side of the street, and do cleanup.

This isn’t the first time the district has claimed that the end is near, though. There was a report to that effect in May of 2018 — nearly a year ago — and again in January and February of this year.

The project began in the summer of 2016 but was suspended a few months later because of a dispute with the contractor. That led to a delay while the contract was advertised and re-bid again — to the chagrin of businesses, nearby residents and motorists who were left to fend with prolonged detours and muddy messes.

Work was designed to upgrade drainage, road surface, lighting, landscaping and sidewalks, as well as placing overhead utilities underground.