As Montgomery County commissioners begin to spend road bond funds approved in November, transportation continues to be a chief concern among governmental entities and officials countywide.
The county has received $60 million in funds from the $280 million road bond approved in November, and commissioners have divided the funding to pay for their most pressing projects. However, the conclusion of November’s road bond election—which passed following the removal of the contentious Woodlands Parkway extension project—has fueled discourse about mobility projects following the county’s adoption of an updated thoroughfare plan.
“The road bond and the thoroughfare plan have nothing to do with each other,” Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal said. “The road bond is about funding for projects. The thoroughfare plan is about planning for future growth. If we stop planning for growth, we are derelict in our duties.”
Bond funds sold
Road bond funds are starting to trickle in to the four county precincts. In January, the county sold $53 million of the $280 million in bonds approved by Montgomery County voters last year. Because the bond debt was sold at a premium, the county received $60 million in revenue from the sale, Doyal said.
“We only issued $53 million worth of debt to get $60 million in proceeds,” Doyal said. “We anticipated a 5 percent interest rate, but they sold at 3.3 percent interest. That is $17 million in interest we won’t pay over the life of those bonds.”
Precinct 1 received about $17 million in funds from the bond sale. The precinct includes portions of Conroe, Montgomery and Willis.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Mike Meador said $10 million of the bond money will partially fund the expansion of FM 1097 from I-45 to Anderson Road. The project is a segment of a larger project that would widen FM 1097 from two to four lanes and add an additional turn lane from I-45 to Blueberry Hill Drive.
The remainder of the $13 million will be paid for through Texas Department of Transportation funding. No timeline has been established for the project.
Meador said the widening is necessary to address additional strain from a planned residential development south of FM 1097 by the Woodlands Development Company.
“If we don’t do something to FM 1097 before The Woodlands Development Company builds 4,000 houses, we are going to have a really big problem and TxDOT knows that,” Meador said. “We have had it shovel-ready for 11 years.”
Meador is also partnering with the city of Willis to construct a new roadway between FM 1097 and Old Montgomery Road. The roadway would allow the two-way segment of the southbound I-45 feeder road at the FM 1097 intersection to be converted to a southbound-only roadway.
The $1.2 million project is expected to be complete by the end of the year.
Other projects in the area include construction of a perimeter road at the Conroe-North Houston Regional Airport, reconstruction of Long Street in Willis and an expansion of Walden Road to accommodate a dedicated turn lane from Hwy. 105 to Emerson Road. Three bridges on Mt. Mariah, Calvary and Bays Chapel roads will also be reconstructed, Meador said.
Doyal anticipates the county will sell another $60 million of debt within the next year.
Thoroughfare plan
While work begins on road projects that have received funding, the county continues to plan for future mobility projects. On Jan. 26, Montgomery County Commissioners Court approved an update to the county’s thoroughfare plan—which was first established in 1979 and has since undergone four updates.
Developed by the Houston-Galveston Area Council, the plan has drawn criticism from Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack as well as The Woodlands Township—who oppose five proposed thoroughfares that would connect The Woodlands to the surrounding area. All five roadway extensions, however, are outside of the township’s jurisdiction.
Since the township signed a resolution opposing the plan on Feb. 24, at least 11 municipalities and special districts have passed resolutions in support of the thoroughfare plan. Cities in support of the plan include Conroe, Montgomery, Willis, Magnolia, Oak Ridge North and Shenandoah.
Three of the projects opposed by the township are located within Precinct 2 as well as Conroe’s city limits or extraterritorial jurisdiction—land the city can annex in the future. Those projects include an extension of Woodlands Parkway from FM 2978 to Hwy. 249, an extension of Branch Crossing Drive from Research Forest Drive to FM 1488, and an extension of Gosling Road from Hwy. 242 to Hwy. 105.
H-GAC Transportation Planning Director Alan Clark said the projects will accommodate population growth projected around The Woodlands.
He said projections show The Woodlands will maintain a population of about 125,000 residents in 2040 because the community has nearly reached build-out. However, the 5-mile radius around The Woodlands is expected to boom to about 850,000 residents in that time.
“The Woodlands is the center of a much larger urban area, and one important issue for The Woodlands and [surrounding] governments is what kind of connectivity will exist within that area,” Clark said. “I think the township, though, has concern about what it means to be a part of a larger urban area. I think there are concerns about security, about crime, as well as about traffic and mobility.”
Plan opposition, support
Conroe Mayor Webb Melder said the city needs the thoroughfares to continue to develop its ETJ. He asked the township to reconsider its resolution in the spirit of cooperation at the March 23 board of directors meeting.
“These projects are important to the future of the city,” Melder said. “I respect The Woodlands’ position, but [Montgomery County is] over a half a million people. There [are] more people in the county than there is inside The Woodlands, and there is more coming. We need these roads, and when these roads are built, we are going to need more roads.”
Melder said Foster’s Ridge, a 792-acre residential development being built by D.R. Horton at the end Old Conroe Road, would benefit from the thoroughfare.
Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley said the proposed thoroughfares are needed for public safety purposes.
“The extension of Gosling [and] Old Conroe roads—those will help safety and mobility,” Riley said. “They provide another way across the creek and the river that we don’t have. They have been on the thoroughfare plan since 1979, so why oppose it now? It is too late to be concerned about it, and they are north of FM 1488. It is in our precinct.” [polldaddy poll=9399171]
Township Chairman Ed Robb said the township is not only concerned about traffic that might be added to existing roadways within its boundaries, but also its involvement within the H-GAC’s planning process. Because The Woodlands Township is not a municipality, it does not have a representative on the H-GAC’s board of directors.
“The issue to me is the process, or what I would suggest is the lack of public process,” Robb said. “In this situation, it appears that a major roadway project has been pushed forward without due consideration from The Woodlands.”
However, Clark said the H-GAC provided a significant amount of documentation to the township about the plan as well as the opportunity to participate in workshops and public meetings. The H-GAC hosted public meetings in Conroe, Magnolia, Shenandoah and New Caney in November.
“There is no intention to reduce the feedback from The Woodlands,” Clark said.
Regardless of the debate, county officials said no funding has been allocated for the opposed thoroughfare plan roadways, which could be years away from development.
“I don’t think you will see any of these roads for a long time,” Meador said. “It is a long process. You have to have the money, the property and the environmental clearance. If it develops, it could be in the next 20 years [that] you will probably start seeing some of these, but right now you won’t.”
