Mayor Turner addresses progress made in Houston since Harvey

HOUSTON – In the second city council meeting since Harvey hit Houston, Mayor Sylvester Turner said he is proud of the city and provided an update to some of the city projects that are in the works.

On Wednesday, Turner said 73 traffic signals remained down, including five in downtown. Turner said that there were more signals down, but city workers were able to repair many of them. There are about 2,500 signals in the city.

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The mayor said traffic this week is expected to be the worst. He asked residents for patience and said traffic should begin to dwindle as time goes by and roads reopen in west Houston.

Turner said debris removal was his No. 1 priority. He said crews have already started removing debris from around the city.

A deal is in place with San Antonio and Austin to remove heavy trash. Turner also said a deal was in the works with Dallas.

Turner asked residents to put debris on the curb.

Trash pickup has resumed, but recycling pickup has been suspended. Heavy trash pickup is taking place.

Turner said the debris estimate is at about $200 million. That number is based on the estimation that 126,000 homes were damaged by the flooding or storm-caused circumstances.

The mayor said a four-mile, 12-inch pipeline is expected to be completed Sept. 8 in west Houston to help with the drainage for the west Houston water treatment plant.

Turner said 11 people were issued citations for breaking curfew, and they were all ticketed on the night of Labor Day. Seven were in the same group.

The city lost 355 vehicles, including the following:

  • 134 police vehicles
  • 15 fire vehicles
  • 140 public works vehicles

The mayor also said some of the refineries were coming back online and gasoline supplies should be better in the coming weeks.

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