INEVITABLE CHALLENGE, UNCOMMON SOLUTION

West Little York Road/Hardy Toll Road Grade Separation
Houston, Texas

Hardy Toll Road, Houston’s first, will soon enter its third decade of operation. Upgrades to its infrastructure are inevitable. Engineering solutions, however, are not nearly so predictable.

Our design for a grade separation for West Little York Road over the Hardy Toll Road and Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) is a good example. The main lanes of the new Hardy Toll Road parallel UPRR. Providing local access to the frontage roads, getting the proper clearance over the toll road and railroad, and minimizing disruption to existing developments along West Little York required us to design the frontage roads on two levels, with elevated intersections.

The completed project included a 650-foot long, four-lane divided bridge over Hardy and UPRR; a 450-foot, two-lane east frontage road bridge; a 170-foot, two-lane west frontage road bridge; and approaches, U-turns, and at-grade roadways. An analysis of traffic movements from adjacent retail and school properties enabled us to design a traffic system that optimized access, and we put together a construction sequencing plan that ensured continuous operation of West Little York Road during construction.

A pedestrian bridge over the toll road was added to provide access to a school located near one end of the project. In addition to roadway and bridge design, we provided right-of-way acquisition assistance, retaining wall and drainage systems design, utilities rerouting, and traffic planning and design. We managed the surveying contractor under a separate subcontract.

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Transportation Engineering
FM66 and FM1446 at IH35E