The heavily traveled shopping area along Westheimer, just inside the Loop, will be a traffic nightmare because of plans to replace an old bridge.
Construction has already started on this project just off of Westheimer. On March 10, crews will actually be shutting part of Westheimer down for about a month. That's a worry for customers, commuters and business owners.
It's a piece of road notorious in Houston for traffic -- Westheimer and Mid Lane, next to the Highland Village shopping center. So when people hear two lanes of Westheimer will close Sunday for construction, usiness owners along Westheimer aren't thrilled either.
Chef Kiran Verma has run her upscale restaurant in the area for eight years. In the back, kitchen workers make tiramisu and samosas. But just feet from the front door, construction workers are about to shut down the road. .
She said, "I just hope and pray it's not going to affect business because we are still a very small business."
Chef Kiran says she'll post alternate driving routes on social media and she hopes people will bring their appetites, and their patience.
"Every guest counts a lot," she said.
The closures are scheduled for the Westheimer and San Felipe bridges over the drainage channel inside the 610 West Loop. They're being closed so that the 50-year-old bridges can be demolished and replaced to accommodate new reinforced concrete box culverts.
Traffic on the Westheimer bridge will be down to one lane in each direction for a month. Work on the San Felipe bridge will begin in the summer of 2013. In that closure, all lanes will be closed for up to two weeks.
For more information on the closures, check the Harris County Flood Control District at www.hcfcd.org/W129 or call the Flood Control District's Project and Study Information Line at 713-684-4040.
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