Work will begin this spring on a project to shift an entrance ramp located near the Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road and Beltway 8 intersection, making the dangerous area safer for drivers and nearby residents, officials said.

In a nutshell

At the Jan. 23 Commissioners Court meeting, Fort Bend County commissioners unanimously approved Houston-based contractor Harper Brothers Construction to take on the $6.27 million project to alter Hillcroft Avenue’s southbound entrance ramp to Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road.

The project’s $384,765 design was funded by the county’s 2020 mobility bond, but the construction cost is funded by the county’s $865.5 million mobility bond approved by voters in November, said Gabriel Odreman, senior project manager with RPS Infrastructure.

The backstory

The toll road entrance ramp along Hillcroft Avenue has caused issues for both drivers entering the toll road and drivers on Carey Chase Drive coming out of the Chasewood and Southwest Crossing neighborhoods, Precinct 2 Commissioner Grady Prestage said.

Drivers on Carey Chase cross Hillcroft to travel under the toll road and turn north into Houston. To do so, they must cross the intersection where drivers are accelerating to get on the Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road, causing a dangerous situation, Prestage said.

“This is a great project. I’m really excited about it, and I want to thank Commissioners Court for voting for it,” he said at the meeting. “It’s $6 million, but if it saves some lives, it’s worth every penny.”

The details

Instead of the entrance ramp beginning around Carey Chase Drive, it will be pushed further north to be closer to the Beltway 8 and toll road intersection, Odreman said. The project will also create a bridge over Carey Chase Drive, allowing drivers to safely move under the overpass to avoid accelerating traffic, Prestage said.

The project will begin in early March and take about 18 months to complete, putting its completion in September 2025, Odreman said. Odreman said disruption during construction will be minimal.

“The old ramp is going to be in place up until when we get the new ramp up and going; when that happens, then we're going to go demo the old one,” he said.

What’s next

A future phase of this project will build a sound wall along the Southwest Crossing neighborhood to ensure residents are shielded from the road noise created by the entrance ramp’s new location, Odreman said. Design on that portion of the project will finish by the end of 2024, he said.