A roadway extension project on Lone Star Bend will soon give residents of the Walden community easy access to Lone Star Parkway.

The city of Montgomery and Montgomery County Precinct 1 are partners on a project that will connect Lone Star and Bois D’Arc bends. Once complete, commuters will be able to drive from Walden Road to Lone Star Parkway without having to access Hwy. 105.

Montgomery County Precinct 1 Commissioner Mike Meador said the road extension would reduce traffic congestion along Hwy. 105 and improve safety for residents and Montgomery ISD students who live in the Walden community.

“This will be another ingress and egress for the Walden community at the end of the peninsula,” Meador said. “It will be a tremendous help for school buses to access Montgomery [ISD] schools without driving on Hwy. 105. It is a lot safer.”

Precinct 1 has budgeted $1.2 million from the 2015 Montgomery County road bond for the project and will also use the funds to repave existing portions of Bois D’Arc Bend. It will dedicate the remaining funds toward the approximate 800-foot extension. However, Meador said the project could cost as little as $600,000.

The city of Montgomery would fund the outstanding balance for the extension, City Manager Jack Yates said.

Yates said the city is also seeking a land swap with the Grandview Property Owners Association in relation to the project. The POA owns land adjacent to the extension project, Yates said.

“We will meet with the Grandview POA to see if they will trade an existing 60-foot easement that we own and a 60-foot-wide strip [of land] in line with Lone Star Bend so we can tie in to Bois D’Arc [Bend],” Yates said.

Additionally, Meador said his precinct will repave Lone Star Parkway from Hwy. 149 to the eastern Hwy. 105 intersection this year. The county completed a similar project on the western portion of Lone Star Parkway last July.

Both projects are expected to be completed within a year, Meador said, but an official construction timeline has not been established.