The Houston-Galveston Area Council unveiled an updated long-range transportation-planning tool for Montgomery County at a Nov. 17 open house in Magnolia. After more than a year of planning, the updated Connections Montgomery County Thoroughfare Plan is a result of collaboration among H-GAC, the county, the city of Conroe and the Texas Department of Transportation to develop a blueprint of roadways for future development. “This gives the county a guide to move forward,” H-GAC Senior Transportation Planner Carlene Mullins said. “The existing thoroughfare plan is very sparse—this fills in the gaps.”

Inside the plan

Though the plan outlines a number of proposed roadways, the routes are preliminary, and no engineering work has been completed yet, Mullins said. The plan is also not designed to be a funding mechanism or a list of construction projects, Mullins said. Overseen by H-GAC, Montgomery County, TxDOT and the cities will determine which projects will be funded in the future, she said. “If a developer wants to develop an area, they could talk to them about participating in the cost of building a road, so the county doesn’t have to pay all of the road 100 percent,” Mullins said. This is the fourth update of the thoroughfare plan, which has been in existence since 1979, Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal said. A prime example of a road being built in accordance with the plan was Fish Creek Thoroughfare, Doyal said. “If a developer came in and bought a tract, we would tell them you are going to have to donate that right of way and build one of your subdivision roads on that right of way so that way no homes will ever be impacted,” Doyal said. “No homes were impacted in the construction of Fish Creek. That’s the whole idea of tracts like this.”

Moving forward

One of the projects with the most public comments submitted at the open house was the extension of Tamina Road north of FM 1488 parallel to the existing Honea Egypt Road. If built as projected, Magnolia resident Terry McGee said the roadway would run through the middle of his property in Cimarron Country where he has lived for 12 years. “To put something like that through there, you would have to buy so many homes,” McGee said. “It would almost kill the area just to do that.” After hearing many concerns from residents at the open house, Doyal said he plans to amend the map. Doyal said he anticipates Commissioners Court will approve the plan with any amendments from the public comment period by the end of December. Mullins said residents can suggest amendments to the plan, which is projected to be updated every five years.