Intersection improvements are slated for several major corridors in northwest Houston, including North Eldridge Parkway in Cy-Fair. The improvements—which will take place between Clay and Spring Cypress roads—are being made possible thanks to federal grant funding administered through the Houston-Galveston Area Council, said Pamela Rocchi, director of Harris County Precinct 4’s capital improvement projects division. “[Precinct 4] Commissioner [Jack] Cagle was very interested in leveraging our existing funds to pursue traffic signal and intersection improvements, including corridor improvements that would relieve congestion along our major thoroughfares,” she said. The improvements were identified as priorities by H-GAC, which announced a call for projects in November 2014 with $160 million in federal funds at its disposal through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program. H-GAC functions as the regional planning commission for 13 Greater Houston area counties, including Harris County. A specific timeline for North Eldridge Parkway improvements has not been laid out, but Phase 1 for all of the Harris County CMAQ projects will be carried out over 2017-18. For North Eldridge Parkway, Phase 1 includes traffic signal installation at seven intersections: Firebrick Drive, Castlebridge Drive, Normont Drive, Quail Creek Drive, Chriswood Drive, New Hampton Drive/Lakewood Villa Drive and Guernsey Drive. Phase 2, which will take place over 2018-19, will involve intersection capacity improvements at two North Eldridge Parkway intersections. A northbound left turn lane will be installed at Crossbridge Drive, and existing northbound and southbound turn lanes will be extended at FM 1960. The projects are being carried out in a partnership with the Texas Department of Transportation. The total construction costs is $17 million for Phase 1 and $9 million for Phase 2, Rocchi said. Precinct 4 is funding 20 percent of the construction cost, or $3.4 million for Phase 1 and $1.65 million for Phase 2. Precinct 4 is also funding the design effort, which is estimated to cost around $4 million for both phases combined. H-GAC received approximately 200 funding applications from its call for projects, H-GAC Transportation Analyst David Wurdlow said. “We look at a number of different types of projects and how they align with the region’s priorities in our long range plan,” he said. “This includes congestion and mobility issues as well as environmental factors and quality of life. These projects are pretty operational in nature. Making intersections that exist work better is relatively low cost for the type of benefit we see.” Other corridors targeted for similar improvements in the northwest Houston area include Cypresswood Drive from Holzwarth Road to Cypresswood Point Avenue and Spring Cypress Road from Telge Road to Louetta Glen Drive.