Hwy. 242 to be complete in March, toll funds to aid in future local mobility projects

Commuters will soon be able to use the tolled Hwy. 242 direct connector facilities to bypass one of Montgomery County's busiest intersections: I-45 and Hwy. 242. The project is expected to be complete by the end of March, according to project developer PTP Transportation. The connectors will allow drivers traveling northbound along I-45 to turn west on Hwy. 242 and drivers traveling west on Hwy. 242 to turn south on I-45 without having to navigate the busy intersection, PTP Transportation Program Manager Jennie Taraborelli said. The facilities will be toll-tag accessible only so as not to diminish the effectiveness of the overpasses, Taraborelli said. "The benefit you are offering by this sort of queue-jumping facility is that you don't have to wait forever at the intersection," Taraborelli said. "That becomes diminished if you are waiting to pay a toll, and it would also have affected other traffic on I-45." Toll fares for the Hwy. 242 direct connectors were yet to be set by the Montgomery County Toll Road Authority at press time. The MCTRA is composed of the Montgomery County Commissioners Court, county Judge Craig Doyal said. Money generated from the tolls will be used to pay debt service, operation and maintenance on the flyover project, Doyal said. Once that debt service is paid, the toll funds could be used to pay for other mobility projects in The Woodlands area. Once complete, Doyal said the direct connectors would be the first road with tolls in Montgomery County. "We are working with [the Texas Department of Transportation] on the Hwy. 249 [extension] project, which would be the second tolled facility," he said. Known as the Aggie Expressway, the project will extend Hwy. 249 by 15 miles from FM 1774 from Pinehurst to north of Todd Mission, according to TxDOT. While the Hwy. 242 project will give drivers another route option, Taraborelli said traffic congestion at the intersection is likely to remain due to ongoing development in the area, which includes the upcoming Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital and the recently opened Costco store. "I think it is a sign of the growth that is coming to Montgomery County," Taraborelli said. "If we were starting this project today we [would] probably design for an even larger project, but this one can be expanded in time." Taraborelli said the expansion, a third direct connector that would allow drivers traveling north on I-45 to turn east on Hwy. 242, hinges on funding and the approval by the MCTRA. She said the expansion has been environmentally cleared, but development of the nearby hospitals could change the status of that clearance if the extra connector is not built soon.