What’s happening
The first set of eight projects that are planned has an estimated cost of about $4.8 million, of which $3.28 million will be federal funds administered through the Houston-Galveston Area Council.
There will also be a local match of $821,000 from road bond funds, said Andrew Dubois, director of operations for Precinct 3 Commissioner Ritch Wheeler. The cost includes $750,000 for design courtesy of pass-through funding, which reimburses some project costs through a fee the state pays for each vehicle that drives on the road.
Several of those projects are currently in the design phase, including plans to widen portions of the Grand Parkway’s frontage road and create dedicated right-turn lanes from the frontage road into communities such as Bender’s Landing, Dubois said.
Another four projects, which will be planned separately at a future date, will be built with funds from the $480 million May road bond. Those will include additional turn lanes on the Grand Parkway’s frontage roads.
Measuring the impact
With TxDOT annual average daily counts increasing since 2020 on both the Grand Parkway and Rayford Road, Dubois said new turn lanes and increased road capacity will help prepare for growth.
Traffic from new development has produced “pinch points,” he said. Widening the frontage roads will “help ease that congestion.”
Officials with the South Montgomery County Fire Department said the increased development also affects emergency response.
Operations Chief Joseph Leggio said the improvements will help emergency vehicles pass in cases where alternate routes are unavailable.
“Any time we can add lanes ... that helps,” he said. “It enables cars to get out of the way, too. ... They can use those lanes for emergency apparatus.”
The next wave of road projects will advance as more development comes in.
A demographic study commissioned by Conroe ISD in 2022 projected 1,695 more homes would be built in Woodson’s Reserve by 2032, which has spurred the district to plan for two additional schools in the area.
Other developments include two new apartment complexes, the Alcove at Bender’s Landing and Imperial Oaks Square. Entertainment options such as The Sandtrap, a golf entertainment center, are slated to open in 2026.
Meanwhile, developer Fidelis is planning to open the 175,000-square-foot Grand Imperial Marketplace shopping center by 2027, Fidelis Vice President R. Carson Wilson said in an email.
What’s next
CISD officials said the district sees the project as a benefit for the area and its growing Grand Oaks High School campus.
“We are excited about the addition of an additional lane to serve Riley Fuzzel [Road],” CISD Director of Communications Andrew Stewart said.
A timeline for the four right-turn lane projects funded entirely through the road bond has not yet been established, Dubois said, as the county was in the preliminary design stages as of early December.
However, one bond project in the area, completed for $38,000 this fall, widened the asphalt at Rayford Road and East Benders Landing and created a merge lane, he said.
“People want immediate gratification from all these traffic projects, but they just don’t work at the speed of a 60-minute show on TV,” Dubois said.
