Construction on the Gosling Road bridge expansion over Spring Creek could begin as early as 2018, according to officials with Montgomery and Harris counties.
Similar to the Kuykendahl Road bridge expansion, which was completed in early July, the Gosling Road bridge project includes the construction of a second bridge over Spring Creek to improve traffic flow between the two counties.
“The Gosling Road bridge project is important because of its connectivity to Harris County,” said Matt Beasley, Montgomery County Precinct 3 chief of staff. “With the completion of the Grand Parkway, the ExxonMobil campus and the Village of Creekside Park in The Woodlands, the project will provide better access to the traveling public from Montgomery to Harris County and vice versa.”
Upon completion, the existing side of the bridge will be converted to two northbound lanes and the new bridge would serve as two southbound lanes, widening the section of the road from two to four lanes.
County officials have discussed project initiation for several months and are waiting to see whether the project could qualify for state funding through the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s Transportation Improvement Program, which advocates for mobility projects to receive state and federal funding. New projects are added to the TIP every two years.
“We need to find out if this is a project that the Texas Department of Transportation wants to be involved in because it’s not a state highway, but TxDOT has some flexibility to participate in projects that benefit their highway system,” Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said. “Since [Gosling Road] comes down to the Grand Parkway, then clearly this would be a benefit.”
If the project does not qualify for state funding, it would cost roughly $7 million. Montgomery County would fund 56 percent of the project, and Harris County would pay for the remaining 44 percent.
If the project does qualify for state funding, it would cost $9.27 million, as the bridge would need to be built to meet higher TxDOT standards.
However, despite the increased cost, the project would be cheaper for both counties as TxDOT would cover 80 percent of the project and the two counties would foot the remaining 20 percent of the bill.
“In theory, if TxDOT isn’t involved, the project could move faster because you just have the two counties involved,” Emmett said. “If TxDOT does get involved, the project needs to go before the H-GAC Transportation Policy Council and get put on the TIP to become eligible to be funded during the next fiscal year—2018.”
County officials said they will know this fall if the project qualifies for state funding from TxDOT. Once funding has been determined, county officials said they can establish a more definitive timeline for the project.