Two road widening projects that will help ease traffic congestion in Montgomery County will soon be under construction—the widening of FM 2978 and Honea Egypt Road.

The Texas Department of Transportation is responsible for the FM 2978 project, while Montgomery County has partnered with the Westwood Magnolia Parkway Improvement District to take on Honea Egypt Road.

The Montgomery County project involves widening the portion of Honea Egypt Road from FM 1488 north to Sendera Ranch Drive. The two-lane road will be widened to five lanes.

With the design phase complete, construction of the $2.4 million project is slated to start in the first quarter of this year and take six to eight months to complete. Montgomery County is paying for $600,000 of the project, Montgomery County Precinct 2 Commissioner Craig Doyal said.

The project is intended to deal with traffic buildup, which has been getting worse over time, Doyal said.

"With multiple subdivisions along that corridor, and all the new business built along there, it's very congested," Doyal said. "We need both lanes in each direction with that continuous turn to allow better flow of traffic through that stretch."

A TxDOT project will widen the portion of FM 2978 from Conroe-Huffsmith Road to Dry Creek Road from two lanes to four with a 5-foot shoulder.

The project left the design phase in March. A contract for construction on the 2.5-mile stretch of road was awarded in August with construction expected to last approximately 20 months, TxDOT said.