HOUSTON \u2013 Two street closures are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Monday, Aug. 31, in the area of St. Emanuel Street and Clay Street, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.<\/p>\n
The closures are expected to remain in effect through 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3 \u2014 roughly five weeks \u2014 while the contractor installs storm sewer boxes.<\/p>\n
What is closed?<\/p>\n
St. Emanuel Street: Closed in both directions from Clay Street to north of Bell Street.<\/p>\n
Clay Street: Completely closed in both directions between Chartres Street and Hutchins Street.<\/p>\n
Bell Street will remain open at St. Emanuel Street, but Clay Street will be closed where it meets St. Emanuel.<\/p>\n
Drivers should expect delays and follow posted signs and signals along the detour routes.<\/p>\n
The work includes installing 8-by-8 storm sewer boxes along St. Emanuel Street. TxDOT spokesperson Mike Zientek said the project is needed because the current drainage system is decades old and not large enough for the city\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s decades old and it\u2019s nowhere. Those boxes are nowhere as large as what\u2019s under the ground now,\u201d Zientek said.<\/p>\n
Detour for the Clay Street closure<\/p>\n
For drivers approaching from Chartres Street and traveling northbound:<\/p>\n
1. Turn right onto Dallas Street.<\/p>\n
2. Turn right onto St. Emanuel Street and travel southbound.<\/p>\n
3. Turn left onto Polk Street.<\/p>\n
4. Turn right onto Hutchins Street to reach Clay Street.<\/p>\n
For drivers approaching from Hutchins Street and traveling southbound:<\/p>\n
1. Turn right onto Bell Street.<\/p>\n
2. Turn right onto Chartres Street to reach Clay Street.<\/p>\n
Detour for the St. Emanuel Street closure<\/p>\n
For drivers who would normally use St. Emanuel Street northbound:<\/p>\n
1. Turn right onto Leeland Street.<\/p>\n
2. Turn left onto Emancipation Avenue.<\/p>\n
3. Turn left onto Dallas Street.<\/p>\n
4. Turn right onto St. Emanuel Street.<\/p>\n
For drivers who would normally use St. Emanuel Street southbound:<\/p>\n
1. Turn left onto Dallas Street.<\/p>\n
2. Turn right onto Emancipation Avenue.<\/p>\n
3. Turn right onto Leeland Street.<\/p>\n
4. Turn left onto St. Emanuel Street.<\/p>\n
Yadi Aguilar with Pitch 25 says the commute to the East Downtown area is already difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like every week or so it\u2019s something new. It\u2019s a new street that\u2019s closed off, there\u2019s a different closure,\u201d Aguilar said. \u201cIt\u2019s a hassle for everyone coming into the downtown area in general already because of traffic.\u201d <\/p>\n
Plan ahead<\/p>\n
People traveling to homes, businesses and venues in the area should allow extra time, use the marked detours and watch for changing traffic conditions. TxDOT also recommends using the ConnectSmart app to help plan trips.<\/p>\n
Bigger Picture<\/p>\n
Mike Zientek, a spokesperson for TxDot said the drainage improvements are especially important as Houston prepares for more heavy rain and future changes to Interstate 45.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Houston, when it rains, it rains. We may be getting some sort of tropical moisture tomorrow (Tuesday). So we want to be prepared,\u201d Zientek said.<\/p>\n
I-45 will eventually run inside Interstate 69, changing from an overpass west of downtown to a route on the east side of the city that will run beneath the current traffic pattern. Zientek said the drainage work will help reduce the threat of standing water on the interstate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t tell you that you are not going to get water on the road, or that certain streets are not going to flood. I can\u2019t promise that. What I can promise you is that the likelihood of that has gone down, because of the work that these folks are doing right now,\u201d Zientek said.<\/p>\n
The larger project is expected to cost $13 billion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the largest project of its kind going on in the United States. Yeah, the cost is $13 billion \u2014 with a B,\u201d Zientek said.<\/p>\n
For businesses in the area, the ongoing construction is also making it harder to attract customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard for us to find incentives for ways for them to come out here,\u201d Aguilar said.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 Two street closures are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Monday, Aug. 31, in the area…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[147123,56,147122,58,57,83292,147121,147124,147125],"class_list":["post-422809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-clay-street-detour-route","tag-houston","tag-houston-downtown-traffic-alerts","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-houston-travel-advisory","tag-st-emanuel-detour-directions","tag-storm-sewer-installation","tag-txdot-houston-closures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}