The Woodlands Township and the cities of Shenandoah and Oak Ridge North presented resolutions to the Montgomery County Commissioners Court on June 16 requesting a new road bond election be held in November.

The resolutions from the cities and the township follow the failure of the $350 million road bond referendum May 9, with 57 percent of voters opposing the plan. The bond would have funded the construction, expansion and rehabilitation of 77 roads countywide.

Oak Ridge North Mayor James Kuykendall said the recommendation was made to let commissioners know his city wants a future bond election, and that county commissioners need to work out their differences so people can decide what another bond should include.

Kuykendall told commissioners at the meeting a new bond is needed to alleviate heavy traffic counts on Robinson Road, one of Oak Ridge North’s most traveled roads.

“There is no doubt that we have a serious problem,” Kuykendall said. “[The city has] 16,000 [vehicle] trips a day down a two-lane road, Robinson Road, intersecting with Hanna Road, crossing the railroad tracks—phenomenal bottleneck down there. The traffic is expected to double, and right now it is overwhelming.”

The county has until Aug. 11 to decide if it will present a new road bond to Montgomery County voters in November, County Judge Craig Doyal said.

Shenandoah Mayor Gary Watts echoed Kuykendall’s concern with his city’s own resolution, and said that traffic is becoming a significant problem in Shenandoah.

“We have more traffic coming through that city than any city in the county,” Watts said. “We know that traffic costs cities money, too. People weren’t stopping. They weren’t going into one of our restaurants to take food home at night because they had to get in the line.”

After hearing the resolutions, Doyal said the Commissioners Court agreed there is a need for a new bond, but the court needs to determine the best timing for a new proposal.

“We first need to get information corrected that was exaggerated in the last bond, and that can be a bit of a challenge,” Doyal said. “On the last bond, there was misguided information concerning debt and projects that were deemed poor. People need to get sound information they need so they can make better decisions in the future.”

Doyal said once the county determines how best to deal with other obstacles of opposition and provice better information to residents, a new road bond may then be a possibility.

Some projects included in the May bond proposal met with significant opposition from voters, including a six-mile extension of Woodlands Parkway and $11 million worth of projects in Precinct 1.

“If we can get full support from the commissioners and show that the bond will be a positive impact on all of Montgomery County, then we will be ready to go,” Doyal said. “I certainly want to see it back in action.”