The city of Houston will spend $86 million to build a detention basin in the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) 17 Memorial City Area. Construction is slated to being in winter 2027.
Between 2009 and 2019, Houston has at least five historical flooding events where rainfall exceeded expected parameters, including one event that surpassed the 100-year flood marker. Detention basins provide critical stormwater flood reduction, protecting local infrastructure and public health in the process.
The TIRZ17 Memorial City Area detention basin will be a regional project, alleviating pressure on multiple drainage systems in the area. The project will build storm boxes under roadways funneling into the underground detention structure. The underground structure will cover 95 acre-feet and be structural loading to accommodate a future school building.
In total, the city will build 12,850 feet of stormwater lines, 550 feet of wastewater lines and 2,230 feet of water lines. In addition, the project will build 7,360 feet of sidewalk and 0.8 miles of pavement.
Plans include accommodating tree coverage within the site area by minimizing tree removal. The project will include an individualized tree protection plan and plant new trees to make up for any removal. Once completed, the city will excavate and haul approximately 147,000 cubic yards of material from the site.
Photo by Liaon98, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, from Wikimedia Commons
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