Bob Leilich:

The simple answer to that is no, particularly if is thru traffic that doesn’t involve our citizens. I voted against [the Woodlands] Parkway extension to begin with, and was also opposed to the maintenance and repair monies that was being financed by bond money. We may not have any control what we can do on the extension of Gosling [Road] since it’s outside The Woodlands unless we fight it on environmental issues. In principle, I do not support providing thoroughfares that get people through our town and city. I think our roads should be for residents as much as possible.

Amy Lampman:

I do not support roads that go into The Woodlands that would cause us to have any more congestion or traffic. I’m a Realtor, so I drive around quite often with my clients. Bringing more people into an area that’s already congested is just nonsensical, in my mind. I think the voters have spoken on how they feel about that, and I agree with them 100 percent. I think we should find solutions. If we had some type of red light system—sometimes I’m going down Woodlands Parkway and am stopping with all those lights—if we had some kind of system where they were flowing better, we wouldn’t be continually stopping and we wouldn’t have as much congestion.

Gordy Bunch*:

I think it’s pretty well established that I led the effort to oppose the Woodlands Parkway [extension]. I was on the bond committee, saw the traffic impact studies and felt that it would damage our community beyond repair. Since then, they’ve added these additional thoroughfares: Gosling Road and Branch Crossing [Drive]. Gosling Road seems easier to stop with Jones Forest; there’s some protected animals in there I think we can leverage to help slow that project. Branch Crossing is almost entirely residential. That does not need to be a major thoroughfare. Woodlands Parkway is inside the boundaries of The Woodlands Township. H-GAC did confirm that as a city, they would need our permission to extend the parkway. That is one of the benefits of planning for incorporation—seeing if you can get it to a point where it can be revenue neutral or revenue acceptable. That would help our residents have the power to choose for themselves whether they want the Woodlands Parkway extended.

Brian Boniface:

The county does pay for our roads currently, but we should be preparing for the future. We do have until 2057 to incorporate, but we should be working with the county to make sure they’re taking care of our roadways. That being said, there have been instances where the board has tried to pay for some road improvements on [its] own. This would be a double taxation. We already pay the county in taxes to have them maintain our roads. For the board to try to go around and have us pay for it again, that would be a case of double taxation. I have opposed that, and I want to make sure that doesn’t happen as a board member.

Mike Bass*:

Today from a statutory standpoint, the township can do anything that deals with transportation: signals, roads—it has the authority as long as the county is in agreement. The issue we’ve had in the past is not paying for something that the county should do, but providing additional funding to the county to be able to do things quicker. For example, if you look at level of service in intersections as it deals with left or right turn lanes, Commissioner [James] Noack will tell you, ‘I can get that done, but it may take me 4 or 5 years.’ The question is if we provide them some money, can we do it in 2 or 3 years? It’s a matter of how quickly we want the benefit and how much pain we want to leave our residents.

Stuart L. Schroeder:

Overall, with what information is available today I think in terms of cost, we assume all cost and liability of funding, construction, repair and maintenance of roads, whereas we do not today. In terms of the mobility, we would have a positive impact but again the cost would be ours to bear and not the county’s.

John Anthony Brown:

Because roads are probably one of the driving cost structures, this is the reason why we save. These kinds of funds, if necessary, would already be saved and we could address the issues. From what I understand, the way our roads are constructed is that they’re very well maintained now and would take another 15 to 20 years to start to deteriorate. Overall, I would say if we save correctly I don’t think it would have a negative impact.

Chris Grice:

I’m not an expert on traffic and don’t pretend to be, but I would like to work closer with the county and the state to determine those projects that need to be done to where we could gather the information we need. They’re the experts in the area to gather that information so we can prioritize those projects. To expand on that a little bit, just like your health, you have to go to the doctor to do preventative health. We need to do a better job on the roads today than we do. It would be a positive impact on the roads if we were a city because I think we’d do a better job. I think some of the things the township has already done around working with the county on the intersections to help the turn lanes, that’s one thing that can help. Working closer with Commissioner [James] Noack on the stoplights to make sure they’re timed correctly—that’s the kind of thing I think we need to work closer with the state and the county on to help with the traffic flow.

Bruce Rieser:

In looking at the South [Montgomery] County mobility study, obviously the plan to extend Gosling [Road] and Branch Crossing [Drive] is a real problem for The Woodlands residents. It’s going to bring an awful lot of traffic in here, and I don’t see a lot for us in that. I would really like to see some emphasis put on the natural loop roads around The Woodlands. We are a community that grows during the day. We have a lot of people coming here, and we are a destination. If we can manage that better, I think we have a better chance of getting this done. I’d like to see us concentrate on the loop roads—FM 2978, Hwy. 242, FM 1488, I-45 and the feeder roads—to move this traffic more efficiently around The Woodlands rather than through residential areas. I don’t think you can build yourself out of traffic problems. Obviously we can do something with the signals and smooth out the major thoroughfares so we get better utilization, but beyond that I think we need to move traffic around The Woodlands, not through it.