Seven mobility improvement projects in the Conroe area will receive funding from Proposition 7, which was approved by voters during the Nov. 3 election.

With Proposition 7 funds, the city of Conroe will move forward with an extension of Old Conroe Road from South Loop 336 to FM 1488 and widen FM 3083 from the Union Pacific Railroad tracks to North Loop 336, said Thomas Woolley, Conroe assistant director of projects and transportation. Parts of Hwy. 242, FM 1097 and Hwy. 105 will also be widened in the area.

Woolley said the FM 3083 project would complete the roadway’s original design and relieve traffic congestion caused by a high concentration of employers in the area.

“Taking the FM 3083 expansion all the way to Loop 336 will help with all of the traffic we get from the Conroe Park North industrial park, the airport and the Montgomery County Fairgrounds,” Woolley said.

Construction of the Old Conroe Road extension would give residents another north to south corridor near I-45.

“Several weeks ago, there was a wreck on I-45 and it shut down completely, and people had to go almost to Magnolia to loop around and get back to Conroe,” Woolley said. “This gives another north-south corridor to get people flowing from the south county to the north.”

The projects would be funded between 2021 and 2025 through a Transportation Improvement Program that is administered by the Texas Transportation Commission, the governing body over TxDOT.

“With this funding, TxDOT will have a predictable revenue stream with which they will be able to implement long-range transportation plans for our state,” said State Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, the chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee.

Proposition 7 diverts $2.5 billion of state sales tax revenue to the State Highway Fund starting fiscal year 2018-19 once revenue exceeds $28 billion, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. Beginning in 2020, 35 percent of the state motor vehicle sales and rental tax revenue in excess of $5 billion will be diverted to the fund.

In November 2014, Texas voters also approved Proposition 1, which increased transportation revenue by adding a portion of state oil and gas taxes to the SHF.