Experience in the transportation arena ranges from renovation of the original two terminals A & B at Bush Intercontinental Airport (including the flight stations) to reconstruction of neighborhood streets after the installation of new underground utilities.
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- Terminals A & B
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- Typical Flight Station
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- Lobby Ceiling and Lighting Underway
All projects in the streets had to follow a traffic control plan that often had to be adjusted to accommodate additional work due to unforeseeable underground conditions. Often finding ways to allow access for the residents and businesses had to be negotiated to allow for access to complete the work. Working with the lane and street closure permit City staff was often a daily occurrence.
The typical projects deal first with a Traffic Impact Analysis and during permitting and construction traffic control plans. An in depth understanding of the typical traffic patterns and experience with understanding traffic modeling and the concerns of traffic engineers leads to a plan that best serves the public and the project.
Notable Projects:
Tom was a co-leader with a rep
from the City’s Traffic Operations Department for the lane and street closure permitting process to coordinate three separate general contractors with adjacent projects in the expansion of the GRB Convention Center; the 1000 room Hilton Americus and the Toyota Center, a multi-purpose arena. The three projects total value was $780M and they were literally across Polk St. and Avenida de las Amercias from each other in a primary access route into downtown from the east side. A weekly meeting was held where trade-offs and compromises were reached to flip closures back and forth so everyone stayed on schedule.
SuperBowl XXXVIII – Another special event was the planning of the special traffic changes in downtown to serve SuperBowl XXXVIII. The tremendous traffic volume was handled well and because of that and many other things the Committee selected Houston to Host Superbowl LI.
Spur 527 – Tom lead a multi-agency team of stakeholders and reps from major employers in developing plans and mitigation measures in preparation for the full closure of the spur that provided high-speed access to downtown and midtown for 40,000 inbound and 40,000 outbound drivers per day. The key element that prevented the meltdown on Day 1 was the intense, targeted communication program that was implemented three months in advance so drivers knew what would happen, when, and alternative routes.
“Know before you go” – While serving the Houston Downtown Management District Tom built and maintain www.DowntownStreets.com that served as a resource for information about the evolving street construction projects as well as private projects that impact the driving and walking public. He produced and issued a weekly eblast to drivers and building management to inform them of changes in the streets. Included in that weekly email was street closures for the many special events managed by the Mayor’s Office of Special Events. This effort was maintained for nine years and became an fixture of the special services expected by downtown drivers and building managements teams.