Transportation Updates


Hwy. 290 Project D Hwy. 290 Project D[/caption]

1. Hwy. 290 Project D


This project is part of an effort by the Texas Department of Transportation to widen Hwy. 290 between Loop 610 and FM 2920. Crews working on Project D are widening Hwy. 290 mainlanes from Telge to Mueschke roads in Cypress. Once the bridge widening over Skinner Road is complete, work will continue to widen Hwy. 290 between Skinner and Spring Cypress roads. Officials said Project D should be complete by the end of the year.


Timeline: February 2014-late 2017
Cost: $85.2 million
Funding sources: TxDOT



2. Hwy. 290 Project E


Project E entails widening Hwy. 290 to five mainlanes from North Eldridge Parkway to Hwy. 6 and four mainlanes from Hwy. 6 to Telge Road. Crews permanently removed the diamond lanes earlier this year. Work has shifted from the westbound to southbound mainlanes. A high occupancy vehicle lane separated by a barrier will eventually be installed to replace diamond lanes.


Timeline: August 2013-2018
Cost: $135.4 million
Funding sources: TxDOT



3. Hwy. 6 bridge over Hwy. 290


Crews will start working on the mainlanes of a new overpass once utility relocations are completed later this year. Mainlanes are expected to be under construction through the end of this year, and then work on the frontage road will take place in spring 2018. Officials said the bridge will be the final stage of the project, which is slated to open some time next year.


Timeline: mid-2016-2018
Cost: Cost included in Hwy. 290 Project E budget
Funding sources: TxDOT



4. Mueschke Road widening


Mueschke Road is being widened from two to four lanes from south of Juergen Road to the Grand Parkway.


Timeline: February-November
Cost: $7.4 million
Funding sources: Harris County Precinct 3



5. Greenhouse Road extension


Work wrapped up on the Harris County Precinct 3 and Caldwell Companies project to extend Greenhouse Road north to Mound Road in Cypress as a two-lane concrete half-boulevard. Harris County built a two-lane bridge over Cypress Creek, and the roadway opened to drivers March 31. Caldwell’s portion was funded through a revenue bond issued by Harris County MUD 500 in 2016.


Timeline: April 2016-March 2017
Cost: $10 million (Caldwell Companies), $6 million (Harris County Precinct 3)
Funding sources: Caldwell Companies and Harris County Precinct 3



6. Huffmeister Road extension


Harris County Precinct 4 has proposed the design of a four-lane Huffmeister Road extension from West Road to Hwy. 6. The project has moved from study phase into the design phase. Construction could begin as early as 2018.


Timeline: TBA
Cost: $2.5 million
Funding sources: Harris County Precinct 4



7. Bridgeland Creek Parkway extension


The Howard Hughes Corporation is developing a 2.5-mile extension of Bridgeland Creek Parkway, which will extend from Fry Road to the Grand Parkway in Cypress. Officials said the roadway should open this summer.


Timeline: March 2014-June 2017
Cost: $14 million
Funding sources: The Howard Hughes Corporation






Electronic toll tag systems in Texas work interchangeably. Electronic toll tag systems in Texas work interchangeably.[/caption]

How it works: Electronic toll tag systems in Texas work interchangeably


In Texas, toll roads are operated by state, regional or county authorities, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.


The Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Austin areas use one of three electronic toll-collection systems available in Texas—TxTag, TollTag or EZ Tag.


Toll roads in DFW, including the Dallas North Tollway, Sam Rayburn Tollway and President George Bush Turnpike, are operated by the North Texas Tollway Authority, which is a political subdivision sanctioned by the state. The NTTA uses the TollTag system.


In the Austin area, the Toll Operations Division of TxDOT operates the Central Texas Turnpike System. The TOD also operates portions of Grand Parkway in Houston and other toll roads throughout the state. TxDOT-operated toll roads use the TxTag system.


The Harris County Toll Road Authority and Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority operate toll roads in the Greater Houston area using the EZ Tag system. HCTRA operates the Sam Houston Tollway, Hardy Toll Road and the Tomball Tollway. FBCTRA operates Westpark Tollway, the Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road and portions of Grand Parkway.


Despite the different toll-collection systems in the state, a toll tag for any one of the three entities works interchangeably for the other two systems.


Payments are automatically deducted from a user’s account each time a driver passes under a toll gantry as long as the driver has a toll tag. Drivers without a toll tag will be billed separately by each tolling authority.


All information on this page was updated as of 4/13/17. News or questions about these or other local transportation projects? Email us at [email protected].