As construction to widen Nichols Sawmill Road wraps up in Magnolia, Montgomery County Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley said he looks forward to construction beginning this spring on Grand Pines Drive, a new road slated from Nichols Sawmill to Sanders Cemetery roads. However, the project hit delays in April with the Army Corps of Engineers. “We feel pretty confident that we’re going to relieve a lot of the congestion from the county line back to Butera [Road] when we get Grand Pines under construction and open,” Riley said.

Grand Pines Drive

To relieve traffic congestion, county commissioners awarded the Grand Pines Drive project March 27 to Fuqua Construction, Riley said. “Our goal is to get some of the people off of Roberts Cemetery Road,” he said. Previously set to begin this spring, the project has hit delays, including archaeological and wetlands mitigation surveys throughout the nearly two-year permitting process, Riley said. In late April, the Corps of Engineers asked the county to mitigate an additional 0.8 acres of wetlands before construction can begin, he said. Riley said he estimates this would significantly delay construction or cost $2.5 million more. Riley said he will meet with the Corps on May 10 to discuss the project. “We’re ready to pull the trigger and get this [project] going,” he said. “I’m thoroughly disgusted [by this delay].” The $6.6 million project—funded by the Montgomery County road bond referendum approved by voters in 2015—constructs a three-lane road with a center turn lane and shoulders as well as elevates the flood-prone approach to the Spring Creek bridge on Sanders Cemetery Road. Construction is expected to take 18 months, Riley said. “It’s not the 100 percent fix that needs to be done [to the bridge], but it’s the fix I can do right now until Harris County comes and meets us,” he said. Randy Schilhab, manager of engineering for Harris County Precinct 3, said the precinct does not have any immediate plans to initiate design projects north of FM 2920 at this location. Precinct 3’s Mueschke Road improvements end just north of FM 2920, he said. “When they get that far [with Mueschke Road], we’ll start talking about who’s going to do what on the bridge,” Riley said. “I think in [Hurricane] Harvey is the only time that I can remember that the bridge actually had water on it.”

Nichols Sawmill Road

To further improve traffic safety, crews began widening lanes on Nichols Sawmill Road in late March, Riley said. The project will wrap up this spring. "Several years back, we took Nichols Sawmill Road from FM 1774 out to Butera Road and we widened the lanes by a foot and put 3-foot shoulders on it. At the time, that was where all the development was," he said. “With all the growth and all the people moving out here—and the people finding all the back roads—that’s created a need to try to improve Nichols Sawmill Road." According to the Texas Department of Transportation, the average daily traffic count on Nichols Sawmill Road at Butera Road increased nearly 21 percent between 2011 and 2016. Average daily traffic counts at the intersection of Nichols Sawmill and Roberts Cemetery roads also increased 5 percent between 2011 and 2016. Funded by the 2015 bond referendum, the $1.7 million project includes adding one foot to each lane, adding shoulders on either side of the roadway and overlaying Nichols Sawmill Road from the Waller-Montgomery county line to Butera Road, Riley said. “It’s going to make everything on that section of the county so much safer. It gives you a little bit of buffer to get off the road if something’s going on," he said. Riley said with the anticipated growth and increased traffic, he hopes a center turn lane can be added to the stretch of Nichols Sawmill Road from FM 1774 to J.L. Lyons Elementary School, located just north of Butera Road, to further improve safety and mitigate traffic congestion. "I hope in the next 3-5 years we can at least look at widening Nichols Sawmill Road to three lanes with a turn lane down the middle out to J.L. Lyons [Elementary]," he said. "People are going to want to know why you don't just go out there and make it five lanes and be done with it. There's too many things that could happen in the next 10 years," he said. “I think you do this in phases."