Lone Star Parkway area to see mobility improvements

Lone Star Parkway repairs and an extension of Lone Star Bend Road this year will address mobility issues near the new Kroger Marketplace in Montgomery and the Walden community.

Work on the Lone Star Parkway project from Hwy. 105 to FM 149 is expected to begin in early July and take about six months to complete. Montgomery County Commissioners Court awarded a $1.1 million contract to Smith and Co. during its May 23 meeting.

The project includes adding a left-turn lane from the bridge near Kroger Marketplace to Lone Star Bend Road. Medians containing trees on Lone Star Parkway will also be removed for safety purposes, Montgomery County Precinct 1 Engineer Michael Beitler said.

Precinct 1 already repaired the roadway west of FM 149 in July 2015 after heavy rainfall created emergency needs for repair that spring.

“That road is just about worn out,” Beitler said.

The precinct also plans to connect Lone Star Bend to Bois D’Arc Bend Road this year. The project will give residents of the Walden community a second exit from the peninsula while providing easier access to a growing commercial area around Kroger Marketplace.

“It has always bothered me that the peninsula only had one way out,” Precinct 1 Commissioner Mike Meador said. “This will give them another outlet if there is an accident between where they live and Hwy. 105.”

The project includes a widening of Bois D’Arc Bend Road to include 11-foot-wide lanes and 2-foot shoulders. It will go out for bid in June and could take about nine months to complete after construction begins. The precinct said the project will cost about $2 million.