It's construction central in the Houston metro as Montgomery County pegs the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) for a cool $58 million, hoping to unleash a wave of road improvements to beat back the bane of every driver's existence: traffic jams. This financial play comes as Houston's Grand Parkway is already in go mode to add a third lane to ease the daily squeeze of commuters and transport trucks.
With rubber set to meet the road just as housing developments keep popping up like wildflowers after rain, the Texas Department of Transportation is pushing to fire up construction on the northern segments of the Grand Parkway, specifically from Kuykendahl to Texas 249. These traffic-troubled tentacles have already hit the growth standards needed for expansion, so brace yourselves – the bid is won by Brice Construction and Design at a price tag of $55.7 million, according to a Houston Chronicle report. Guess what? That's a slick $2 million less than the officials estimated. Major work, however, won't be a speedy affair – these lanes are looking at over three years until completion.
Meanwhile, the Montgomery County Commissioners Court isn't just sitting around. In December, they shot off a wish list totaling $58 million to TxDOT, as reported by Community Impact. The cash infusion is earmarked for stretching out lanes at Hardy Toll Road and Grand Parkway, and for slapping down new on- and off-ramps on the Grand Parkway around Rayford Road and Birnham Woods Drive. They better hustle because the traffic—from just 5,000 to over 18,000 annual average daily counts at Birnham Woods Drive intersection since 2011, shouts the need for more asphalt.
James Noack, Montgomery County Precinct 3 Commissioner, isn't mincing words on the matter either. "Completed and future residential and commercial developments along the Grand Parkway in the vicinity of Rayford Road and Birnham Woods Drive are creating a higher traffic demand than those existing frontage road lanes will be able to handle," Noack plainly stated to Community Impact. Montgomery aims to smoothly to move through funding with pass-through toll financing, which lets local road improvements get done without flirting with debt. It's a savvy move, avoiding sticky bond issues.
The strategy is dead simple: show TxDOT the choke points, get the green light for funds, and kick off the bidding for design and construction. But if TxDOT tightens the purse strings, back to the war room goes the county to strategize anew. Among other maneuvers to manage the motorist madness, H-GAC has already routed $5 million in improvements to the I-45 junctions with Tamina Road and Research Forest Drive. They're not just adding lanes, but also dealing with those pesky turn lanes—the kind that make or break the flow of city life.
