After three dozen Missouri City residents and business owners spoke out largely against a project to install medians along FM 1092, city staff and officials with the Texas Department of Transportation have agreed to changes on the project’s schematics.
TxDOT is planning a $4 million project to install medians along 5.8 miles of FM 1092—also known as Murphy Road—from Hwy. 59 to Hwy. 6. While the project was originally expected to bid in April, that has been delayed until August with construction slated to begin in the winter.
“Thank you to TxDOT for taking consideration of the community input,” Council Member Anthony Maroulis said during a May 3 meeting. “I saw some areas where I was concerned, and it looks like they cleared it up.”
The changes focus on several intersections along FM 1092—also known as Murphy Road—including Palm Grove Drive, the Shell gas station at Cartwright Road and Township Lane.
A majority of the people in attendance at the March 17 public hearing were residents of the Quail Valley Thunderbird West Courtyard Homes subdivision, where the only entrance is Palm Grove Drive.
As originally proposed, residents would not be able to make a left turn in or out of the neighborhood. However, the updated plan will leave the entrance to Palm Grove Drive as is, something several residents advocated for.
Another change came at the entrance to the Shell gas station at the corner of Cartwright Road and FM 1092. Owner Bob Schragel said if the medians were installed as planned, trucks bringing gasoline would not be able to make a left turn into his business. Now, a mountable median—one that will allow trucks and other emergency vehicles to cross—will be installed.
Additionally, at the intersection of Raoul Wallenburg Lane, medians will be installed so that people will not be able to make a left turn onto FM 1092. And, at Township Square, residents will be able to make a left turn directly into the shopping center, but will use Township Lane to leave the area.
Council Member Floyd Emery said he has lingering concerns about traffic flow into other businesses along FM 1092. He also worries about safety issues caused by the increased number of U-turns that will be made on the two lane road because of the plan.
TxDOT has previously said the purpose of the project is to reduce crash rates and improve traffic flow as a part of its Road Zero initiative, which aims to end traffic deaths on Texas roads by 2050.
“I’m not really sold that FM 1092 is conducive to medians,” Emery said.
Still, Public Works Director Shashi Kumar said he believes this is the solution the city and TxDOT will be able to agree on.
“There may be other subtle improvements that we can do, but this is pretty much what TxDOT has indicated they can accommodate,” Kumar said.
Residents can continue to submit feedback about the project to the city using the [email protected] email address, and City Council expressed interest in holding another public hearing on changes.
“All of these suggestions came from the people that were here in March,” Mayor Robin Elackatt said. “So, I think it's better to be transparent and take this back and tell them how we worked with TxDOT and what are some of the solutions that we came up with.”
