About a month into the project, landscaping and irrigation improvement work continues on 16 esplanades along Wilcrest Drive between Westheimer Road and Lakeside Place. The six median openings on Wilcrest immediately north of Westheimer will be rebuilt to accommodate better traffic flow. Most significantly, the Wilcrest left-turn lanes at Westheimer will be extended to allow for more cars to enter the turning lanes. The first median north of Westheimer will feature a southbound left-turn channelized bay. The other five median openings on Wilcrest will be rebuilt to accommodate u-turns and left turns. These openings will better align with existing driveway openings and will result in smoother, safer traffic to and from the businesses on Wilcrest.

This week, workers will relocate about 120 feet of water lines, along with three fire hydrants in order to make room for new median cuts. When completed, t he esplanades will feature Mexican Sycamore trees, plus Drift Roses, Asian Jasmine, Foxtail Fern, Red Yucca, Variegated Flax Lily and Dwarf Bottlebrush.  "We did a thorough walk-through with the City of Houston Tree Forester to identify the trees that could be removed and the associated tree mitigation requirements," said Irma Sanchez, Westchase District's vice president of projects. "The trees are being mitigated inch for inch as required by the Houston tree ordinance. We managed to preserve 26 existing trees and will be planting 71 new trees in the medians."