Two-minute impact
Director of Parks and Recreation John McGowan said the median design project would bring the Hwy. 242 entrance into The Woodlands area in alignment with the other major thoroughfares which run through the township.
"Right now you are used to the crape myrtles that are there, so what [the median project] will do is enhance that with actually enhanced median tips, which are not currently there," McGowan said.
The median design is part of the overall traffic improvement project, which has seen TxDOT construct a number of lane improvements along the 4.36-mile stretch of Hwy. 242 from I-45 to FM 1488 such as widening and restriping. McGowan said the new medians would include foliage shared across all township entry signs and medians, including:
- Crape myrtles
- Asian jasmine
- Flax lilies
- Pine trees
TxDOT will fund the landscaping and median construction as part of the agreement made with the township in 2022, which only required the township to cover the cost of a conceptual design.
Quotes of note
- "We believe that [Hwy.] 242 should look like the rest of our main thoroughfares, and whatever we've got to do to make that happen ... [we've got to] make sure that we're on top of that," board of directors Chair Brad Bailey said. "We put extra funds towards trees in that area; our major thoroughfares, they tell our story."
- "It's always looked like the poor stepsister in terms of roads, in my opinion, and this is our opportunity to really bring it up to standard," board member Shelley Sekula-Gibbs said.
According to contract documents between the township and TxDOT, construction on the median improvements is set to begin in late 2025.
