Since 2023, over a dozen businesses have opened within a 1-mile radius of Hwy. 242, along with four residential developments underway in the area.
“Our entire county is growing, and that corridor along [Hwy.] 242 is no different,” Montgomery County Precinct 4 Commissioner Matt Gray said. “It’s just an easy place to develop. ... You’ve access to two major highways or interstates and all the great amenities right there.”
Aaron Cox, president and CEO of The Woodlands Area Chamber of Commerce, said these and other factors make it a growing focus for business.
“That is a critical hub in our area and very important to The Woodlands, to Conroe and to Magnolia and greater Montgomery County particularly because of where it sits,” Cox said. “Our major medical facilities are there along with the other businesses that are going up [and the] housing developments that are going up east of I-45.”
Zooming out
Montgomery County is one of the fastest-growing counties in Texas, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Between 2018-23, Montgomery County’s population grew 18%, from 554,445 to 654,722 residents, per the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.
In response to added traffic caused by this growth, last June, Montgomery County commissioners approved a $19.1 million agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation to build an eastbound flyover at Hwy. 242, connecting I-45 North to Hwy. 242. Gray said the project, expected to finish by 2028, aims to ease local traffic congestion.
“The addition of the eastbound flyover will help those growing areas east of I-45,” Shenandoah City Manager Kathie Reyer said.
What's being done
Other projects to address connectivity and traffic flow along the I-45 and Hwy. 242 corridor include expanding David Memorial Drive in Shenandoah, which voters approved as part of the May 3 bond in Montgomery County.
“Completing David Memorial [Drive], that will be significant in easing some of the congestion in that immediate area,” Cox said. “In terms of mobility, our ability to move people and products safely and effectively, that is what our goal is for our business community.”
Reyer said the connection could also benefit emergency responders at Houston Methodist The Woodlands Hospital, located at I-45 and Hwy. 242.
“Currently traffic backs up on the northbound I-45 service road,” she said. “This is a problem for patients and emergency vehicles.”
