Work to fix bridge used by trail fans will resume

Months of delay in fixing a key trail connection soon may come to an end, with workers set to begin repairs to the M-K-T Bridge next month.

The Houston Parks Board said Friday that Houston and Harris County Flood Control had granted expedited approval of repair plans for the historic bridge.

“On-site construction on the bridge is expected to resume in March, after steel is fabricated for the repairs,” the nonprofit parks board said in a statement. “Construction is estimated to be complete in late summer 2022, weather permitting.”

The existing detour that forces runners and bike riders to Heights Boulevard will remain in place until construction is complete, officials said.

Bicycling advocates welcomed the announcement.

“This bridge is a critical connection in the bike network, so it’s good to see the project is moving along again,” said BikeHouston Executive Director Joe Cutrufo.

The bridge’s closing in August 2020 after a fire first was considered a temporary inconvenience but lingered and became a point of frustration for users. Parks Board officials initially said construction would take only a few months, once they completed a lengthy analysis of the wooden piers and assessed what repairs above and along the banks of the bayou were needed.

By last September, more than a year after the closing, the parks board — a nonprofit that in the interim opened its signature Bayou Greenways Park on the southeast side of the bayou at the bridge — confirmed the damage was more severe than initially believed and said it would have to redesign the repair work and seek new city and county flood control permits.

Many bicyclists and Heights runners grumbled for months that the bridge — comparable for cyclists to what the Pierce Elevated along Interstate 45 is to automobile drivers — never would have stayed closed for months if it carried cars and trucks.

On Jan. 1, to mark the 500th day since the bridge closed, Cutrufo urged parks officials and city leaders to “bring the same urgency to this bike and pedestrian bridge that they would bring to any other transportation project.”

News of the upcoming work was celebrated — albeit wearily — by some riders.

“Jesus Christ, finally!” cyclist Noel Espino, 33, said in an email. “They mean it this time, right?” dug.begley@chron.com