Work wraps up on Medical Complex Drive Segment 3 after delays

After more than two years of construction and delays, work on the first segment of the Medical Complex Road extension project is complete. Funding for the segment was originally approved by Tomball City Council in March 2014, however, since then the project has encountered numerous problems. Segment 3 construction wrapped up in late May.

“It’s been very frustrating,” Tomball City Manager George Shackelford said. “The contractor was actually very good; [but] the right of way acquisition was an issue and that delayed some things. And AT&T had some lines in the way that they knew about for three years before doing anything.”

The project is broken up into five segments. Funding for Segment 3 of the project comes from the city budget, with a $1.7 million contribution from the Tomball Economic Development Corporation.

The segment extends the road from where it dead ends at Lawrence Street near Tomball Regional Medical Center through to South Cherry Street. The 0.9-mile road cost over $6.1 million and was originally estimated to take less than a year.

“[That part was] going to be built in segments to all be done at the same time,” Shackelford said. “The plan was to do one pour at time at the intersection there and be working on the rest of road coming east. But that’s not what happened.”

Shackelford said in addition to waiting for AT&T to move transmission lines, multiple heavy rain events during the past two years also caused delays.

When all segments are finished, the roadway will run parallel to FM 2920 from east of Telge Road to east of Hufsmith-Korhville Road, providing an alternative to FM 2920 through downtown Tomball.

“It will give you an additional east-west corridor all the way from [Hwy.] 249 east to [FM] 2978,” he said. “So that will potentially will give a little relief for drivers.”

Shackelford said each segment of the project is funded individually, and the council has not approved funding for any additional segments yet.

“We’re still kind of in the in-between stage,” he said.