Photo by Shawn EppsDavid Gornet has been living and breathing the Grand Parkway for 30 years. He is the executive director for the Grand Parkway Association and has served in that capacity since 2001. Part of his role as executive director is to educate and inform the public about the benefits of the Grand Parkway. An engineer by trade, Gornet has done alignment studies for the Grand Parkway dating back to the 1980s. Prior to his work with the GPA, Gornet worked for 18 years for a consulting firm in Houston as director of transportation planning. In 1984, the Texas Department of Transportation authorized the creation of the Grand Parkway Association as a nonprofit state transportation corporation. Conceived by the city of Houston in 1962, The Grand Parkway will span more than 180 miles once it is completed.
The Grand Parkway was identified back in the 1960s. What are some of the reasons the project was delayed, and why is now the best time to undertake the project?
The process has been different for several of the segments. The challenge as we move forward with other segments has been they want to use federal funds or at least qualify for federal funds. As of today, we are still not using any direct federal funds for it. But to be eligible to use federal funds you have to go through a federal environmental process that takes a significant amount of time for a new location road. The documentation process, all the public involvement, going through the federal reviews adds up a lot of time to that and a lot of cost. That has been a challenge.
It also takes us 10 years to set an alignment. So, we could be working on a route and in the meantime a subdivision gets built in the middle of what was a nice, open piece of pasture, and we have to move somewhere else. Moving somewhere else has other impacts that we have to go through. But we have made it through all of that. We have got a route set. The growth has been coming such that the Grand Parkway is more of a reaction to the growth that has already occurred rather than a plan, a proactive plan that you are trying to accommodate future growth. The timing is there. Having the environmental approvals. Having the growth that's occurred. The demand for new facilities. Now is the time to get out there and do something.
The GP will traverse seven counties when completed. Can you comment on the challenges of working on a project with various departments and officials?
Going through seven counties has been challenging, but we have been blessed to have almost universal support from elected officials. Each county has their own ideas about what would be most beneficial for their county. You have to get the various officials in each county to understand the challenges, and that you are doing something in their county that it might have impacts elsewhere as well. You have got to get them all to understand that. Sometimes one county has to give a little because there would be offsetting impacts in another county.
