Crews with Harris County Precinct 4 and the Texas Department of Transportation are working on two projects in the Tomball and Magnolia areas spanning the north-south corridor along Hufsmith-Kohrville Road and FM 2978. Both projects, which are expected to wrap up by 2021, will widen the roads from two lanes to four lanes with appropriate drainage systems, officials said. TxDOT crews began work on the northern portion of FM 2978 in September after a series of delays. Additionally, a portion of Hufsmith-Kohrville Road is set for completion early next year with three more segments yet to be widened.

FM 2978 widening

TxDOT Public Information Officer Emily Black said the Magnolia area has seen explosive growth in the past few years, which is the main reason for widening FM 2978 between FM 1488 and Spring Creek. The project, which has two phases and also includes widening the Spring Creek bridge to four lanes, has a total cost of about $33.3 million, according to TxDOT information. “With that growth comes more people and more cars on the road, so that congestion in there is why we’re working on expanding the capacity of that road,” Black said. The traffic count on the north end of the project has grown from about 17,000 vehicles per day in 2013 to 24,392 vehicles per day in 2017, Black said. With both phases of the project as well as bridge construction having begun earlier this year, the FM 2978 project, which was originally set to begin in 2016, will finish in 2021 after delays from utility conflicts and Hurricane Harvey recovery, Black said.

Hufsmith-Kohrville Road work

Precinct 4’s five-segment widening project of Hufsmith-Kohrville Road from Spring Cypress Road to FM 2920 is estimated to cost about $37 million, said Pamela Rocchi, Precinct 4 capital improvements division director. This portion of the north-south thoroughfare lies south of FM 2920, which stands as the dividing line between the TxDOT and Precinct 4 road projects, and carries 12,000-17,000 vehicles per day on the two-lane road, Rocchi said. “When you’re talking about putting that much traffic on a two-lane facility you know that you need to widen it to four lanes at a minimum,” Rocchi said. Rocchi said the first segment of the project finished in May 2016, and the northernmost segment is set to be complete by early 2019. She said the remaining three segments are slated for construction bids in 2019 and 2020. Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle said the widening is necessary because he expects the population to double in Precinct 4 in the next 15 years. “If we don’t stay on top of our mobility and transportation issues then basically what we are doing is we’re condemning the region to be stagnated, and it will hurt our business,” Cagle said. “People will come whether we build it or not, so we better build it in a way where we can look to the future and make sure that where we can we’re on top of this development.”