Montgomery County is looking to obtain $350 million in state and federal transportation funds for a number of road improvements including the Magnolia Relief Route, I-45 braided ramps and a Transtar system for the county, according to county officials.

Two-minute impact

County Judge Chief of Staff Jason Smith presented the plan to commissioners Feb. 25 after working with the Houston-Galveston Area Council to identify projects which could be added to the state's Transportation Improvement Plan, or TIP.

Projects on the TIP meet criteria to be eligible for state and federal funds, and Montgomery County's projects include:Smith said the traffic signal rewiring project is part of an effort to address signal timing issues across the county while also providing more information for residents on a daily basis.

"The plan is to be able to offer the public a website similar to Transtar, where they can see real, live traffic data, which will also communicate with things like Google Maps [and] Apple Maps as well," Smith said.


These projects are separate from those the county is considering for a road bond that will go before voters in May, officials said. The Magnolia Relief Route alone is projected to cost between $150 million-$200 million, according to prior Community Impact reporting, and will provide a four-lane road that will span around the city of Magnolia from Hwy. 249 to FM 1488.

Stay tuned

Smith said while the projects have been approved to be added to the TIP by H-GAC officials, a federal mandate requiring any state transportation plan amendments to be first reviewed by the U.S. Office of General Counsel could delay when the funding is available.

"[The U.S. Office of General Counsel] were unable to give us a timeline on when the Office of General Counsel will be able to provide the state the ability to go through with [the changes]. That being said, without TIP approval on our projects, they will remain on an indefinite hold," Smith said.