As Montgomery County commissioners begin to spend road bond funds approved in November, the issue of transportation continues to be a chief concern among governmental entities countywide.


The county has received $60 million in funds from the $280 million road bond approved in November, and commissioners have divided the funding among their most pressing projects. However, the conclusion of November’s road bond election—which passed following the removal of the contentious Woodlands Parkway extension project—has fueled discourse about mobility projects following the county’s adoption of an updated thoroughfare plan.


“The road bond and the thoroughfare plan have nothing to do with each other,” Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal said. “The road bond is about funding for projects. The thoroughfare plan is about planning for future growth. If we stop planning for future growth, we are derelict in
our duties.”



Bond funds 


Road bond funds are starting to trickle in to the four county precincts. In January, the county sold $53 million of the $280 million in bonds approved by Montgomery County voters last year. Because the bond debt was sold at a premium, the county received $60 million in revenue from the sale, Doyal said.


“We only issued $53 million worth of debt to get $60 million in proceeds,” Doyal said. “We anticipated a 5 percent interest rate, but they sold at 3.3 percent interest. That is $17 million in interest we won’t pay over the life of those bonds.”


Planning continues as road bond projects move forward


Precinct 2 received about $10 million of funding from the first bond sale. The precinct includes the city of Magnolia, the Westwood Magnolia Parkway Improvement District and some of Conroe’s extraterritorial jurisdiction—land the city of Conroe can annex in the future.


Funding for the engineering and design phases for four bond projects in Precinct 2 were approved during the April 15 court meeting: widenings of Research Forest Drive Keenan Cutoff Road, Fish Creek Thoroughfare, and Copperhead Road—the newly named extension of Nichols Sawmill to Sanders Cemetery roads.   


“We’re growing so fast, and we need more north-[to]-south connectors and we need east-[to]-west connectors,” Montgomery County Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley  said. “I’ve got subdivisions on [FM] 1488 where Old Conroe Road and Gosling Road meet the [proposed] extensions. They have one way in and one way out, and that’s a safety problem that I’ve been trying to deal with ever since I’ve been in Montgomery County.”



Thoroughfare plan


[polldaddy poll=9408014]While work begins on road projects that have received funding, the county continues to plan for future mobility projects. On Jan. 26, Montgomery County Commissioners Court approved an update to the county’s thoroughfare plan—which was first established in 1979 and has since been updated four times.


Developed by the Houston-Galveston Area Council, the thoroughfare plan has drawn criticism from Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack as well as The Woodlands Township—which has opposed five proposed thoroughfares that connect The Woodlands to the surrounding area since the updated plan was released.  All five roadway extensions, however, are outside of the township’s jurisdiction.


Since the township signed a resolution opposing the projects in February, at least 11 municipalities and special districts have passed a resolution in support of the thoroughfare plan. Cities in support of the plan include Conroe, Montgomery, Willis, Magnolia, Oak Ridge North, Shenandoah and Willis.


Three of the projects opposed by The Woodlands Township are located in Precinct 2 as well as Conroe’s city limits or ETJ. Those projects include an extension of Woodlands Parkway from FM 2978 to Hwy. 249, an extension of Branch Crossing Drive from Research Forest Drive to FM 1488 and an extension of Gosling Road from Hwy. 242 to Hwy. 105.


Riley said thoroughfares, such as the Gosling Road and Branch Crossing Drive extensions, are needed for public safety.


“The extension of Gosling [and] the extension of Old Conroe Road—all of those will help safety and mobility,” Riley said. “They have been on the thoroughfare plan since 1979, so why oppose it now? It is too late to be concerned about it, and they are north of FM 1488. It is in our precinct.”



Public feedback


A number of Magnolia-based entities have also expressed support for the plan since its approval, including Magnolia ISD, Emergency Services District No. 10 and the Westwood Magnolia Parkway Improvement District.


Planning continues as road bond projects move forward


The WMPID passed a resolution in support of the plan in March. Board members argue the Woodlands Parkway extension will largely be used for residents looking to travel to shopping centers and developments along Magnolia’s major corridors and as a way to reach Hwy. 249.


“I don’t believe that the Woodlands Parkway is going to become a major highway for the people going to I-45,” WMPID board member Tom Grayson said. “I think it’ll be just the reverse where people will use it as a way to get to [the future Aggie Expressway] going toward College Station.”


Grayson said with new developments along the FM 2978 and FM 1488 corridors, the extension is necessary not only for Magnolia residents in terms of traffic, but it will allow new business to capitalize on the traffic by attracting customers.


“We’ve got an H-E-B coming in over here, and we want to make it more convenient for people to use our center too,” he said. “Getting that roadway in, and the development of the land between there is very important to the growth of the Magnolia area.”


During a Feb. 2 Commissioners Court public hearing, Magnolia ISD Superintendent Todd Stephens spoke in support of the Woodlands Parkway extension as well as the thoroughfare plan. He argued that, with limited ways to access schools and students in all parts of the city, the area needs more connecting routes.


“This is about mobility largely for our students and our buses,” Stephens said. “We’re excited about what’s happing with [FM] 1488 and the widening of that and creating a good corridor there, but during the construction and with all the growth that we’re experiencing, any type of additional mobility that we can get across our district would certainly help us.”


He said because the district buses would only need to use the connecting roads to travel west of FM 2978 within the school district, it is unlikely that any buses would use the Woodlands Parkway extension to travel east and cause additional traffic for residents in The Woodlands.


“We can assure you that none of our buses would be going into The Woodlands from that extension,” Stephens said.


Township Director Ed Robb said the township is not only concerned about traffic that might be added to roadways within its boundaries but also its involvement within the H-GAC’s process.


Because the township is not a municipality, it does not have a representative on the H-GAC’s board of directors.


“The issue to me is the process, or what I would suggest is the lack of public process,” Robb said. “In this situation, it appears that a major roadway project has been pushed forward without due consideration from The Woodlands.”


However, H-GAC Transportation Planning Director Alan Clark said the H-GAC provided a significant amount of documentation to the township about the plan  as well  as the opportunity to participate in workshops and public meetings. The H-GAC hosted public meetings in Conroe,
Magnolia, Shenandoah and New Caney in November.


“There is no intention to reduce the feedback from The Woodlands,” Clark said.


Regardless of the debate, county officials said that funding has not been allocated for the thoroughfare plan roadways, which could be years away from being developed.


“There’s no funding for it yet,” Riley said. “The developers that own the two big tracts of land at [Hwy.] 249 out west [for the Woodlands Parkway extension], they’re still meeting with each other and their investor to try and come up with a timeline and come up with a funding source. As of right now, they don’t have anything like that but they’re working on it.”