Although specific funding sources and construction timelines are unknown for the recommended projects, the study outlines the precinct’s needs for roadways, safety enhancements and transit upgrades, according to the H-GAC and a draft study shared in August.
“With the growth that we’re experiencing, we definitely need more and better mobility resolutions to the traffic that we’re currently beginning to see,” said Sandy Barton, the president of the Greater Magnolia Parkway Chamber of Commerce, in an interview.
This is the first mobility study done specifically for Precinct 2, although a thoroughfare plan was conducted in 2016 for the county as a whole and updated in 2021, according to H-GAC Project Manager Carlene Mullins and previous Community Impact reporting. Precinct 2 spans southwest Montgomery County from Magnolia to the western Conroe area.
Riley contacted the H-GAC in 2018 about doing the study, and Mullins said it began in September 2020 after two years were spent securing funding from the Texas Department of Transportation. Mullins said the study budget totaled $500,000 in federal funds with Precinct 2 contributing $100,000.
The H-GAC identified mobility needs before its first public meeting April 22, 2021, according to the study’s website. A revised draft was presented in August, and the study is expected to be finalized in October or November with minor changes, Mullins said.
Some of the projects called for in the study include extending the widening of FM 1488—underway between the Waller County Line and FM 149—to I-45; updating signal timings on roads; and constructing the Magnolia Relief Route, a road that would loop around the city, beginning and ending at different sections of Hwy. 249.
“A lot of improvements that were included in the study was recommending some signal work in some places, which would improve mobility,” Riley said. “A lot of it was expanding certain TxDOT roads; a lot of it was turn lanes that are not there today that certainly help mobility; and a lot of it was adding lanes and adding shoulders and adding that type of [improvement] to roads.”
While some of the roads in the study are maintained by the state, many of them are county maintained, and Riley said a future bond referendum to fund those county road projects could be possible.
A growing county
In 2020, Montgomery County had a population of 620,443, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s decennial census. That is 6,492 more people than the Texas Demographics Center, which produces, interprets and publishes state demographic data, predicted in its 2018 population projections report.
The TDC also predicted by 2040, the county will reach a population of 1.11 million residents.
Precinct 2 reached 139,100 residents in 2018—a 26% increase since 2010—and is projected to more than double to 291,100 residents by 2040, according to the H-GAC.
“Growth in the North Houston region continues to progress north and northwest,” North Houston Association President Marlisa Briggs said in an interview. “We’ve got so many new developments [and] communities, and our population just keeps increasing.”
As the population increases, so does the number of cars on the roads. In 2021, 580,774 cars were registered in Montgomery County, which is a 31.5% increase from 2012, according to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.
Riley said he attributes part of the county’s growth to the mobility changes that have already been made, such as the improvements to Hwy. 249 and constructing Grand Pines Drive in Magnolia.
“All of the improvements that we’ve made throughout this Precinct 2—that’s why they’re coming here,” Riley said.
Projects in and around Magnolia
In Magnolia specifically, the mobility plan calls for new roads, widenings, intersection improvements and safety updates.
One of the bigger recommendations—broken up into two smaller projects totaling $223.75 million—calls for widening FM 1488 to I-45 from four to six lanes. TxDOT is widening FM 1488 from the Waller County line to FM 149, set to wrap up in 2025, according to an Oct. 1 update.
Also called for in the study is the Magnolia Relief Route, which would create a new six-lane road looping around the city. This project is anticipated to be needed within the next 10 years and would cost $132.7 million, according to the study.
“For us, the relief route [would] be a really big benefit for congestion in the area,” Briggs said. “All of us [the county, H-GAC and the NHA] have been talking about that particular concept in that area for at least six years now, if not longer.”
Barton said she is supportive of the projects.
“We need those things to relieve congestion,” Barton said. “So from a business perspective, we are very supportive of those aspects of the mobility study.”
In an interview, Magnolia Mayor Todd Kana also said he supported the Magnolia Relief Route.
“I believe that would be good to alleviate traffic in town for those people that are just passing through trying to get from one side of town to the other,” Kana said.
The study also recommends widening Nichols Sawmill Road and Buddy Riley Boulevard. Both projects would widen the roads from two to four lanes and are needed within the next 10 years, according to the H-GAC. The Nichols Sawmill Road widening would cost $78.3 million, and the Buddy Riley Boulevard widening would cost $9.49 million.
“[Buddy Riley Boulevard] is honestly one of the more traveled local roads in the area,” Kana said.
Looking forward
Mullins said most of the projects called for in the long-range mobility study were in line with TxDOT’s recommendations and ongoing projects throughout Precinct 2, and once the study is finalized, it will be turned over to Riley and his office.
Riley said after receiving the finalized study, he and his office will determine the next steps.
To help fund projects recommended in the study, Riley said he sees the need for a future county road bond. Voters last approved a $280 million road bond in 2015, according to previous reporting.
“I haven’t talked to any of the other commissioners or the judge, ... but I think right after the first of the new year, we’re going to have to get serious about talking about figuring out a way to fund some of these projects,” Riley said. “A road bond is going to be about the only way we’re going to be able to do what we need to do in Montgomery County.”
Some projects could also be funded from the county’s toll road revenue, which has somewhere around $14 million to spend for roadway projects, Riley said.
“Every project on that study is one that we may or may not do,” Riley said. “We know that the majority of them may be done, but you’re talking [about] billions of dollars that they recommended in this study, and that’s always the biggest challenge we have is where we’re going to get the funding and who’s going to step up and help fund these projects.”
Meanwhile, Magnolia city officials said the city engineer has begun looking into conducting a city mobility study. Kana said there is not a timeline for the city’s mobility plan.
“It’s not a quick process because they’ll bring to us, like any other study, multiple options,” Kana said.
Find the full list of recommended projects here.
