Early voting started Monday for several issues including the Montgomery County $350 million dollar road bond. People voting are looking at it both ways. Many are tired of sitting in traffic and want something done. Many also are taking a more open minded approach to the issue. They are looking on what the bond will cost taxpayers. Even though Montgomery County Commissioners say there will be no tax increase they did not say your property values could go up which would cause you to pay additional taxes. Just recently appraisals arrived in the mail and many properties in Montgomery County increased. Some by 25 percent and more.
Montgomery County Precinct 3 Commissioner Noack is not one of those saying no additional taxes. He is saying just the opposite.
Many have not even seen the list of projects. Some of those projects are needed, some are questionable. The issue there with many is the total project costs for Precinct 1 are over $11 million less than they asking the bond to be approved for. Commissioner Meador said in Commissioners Court session two weeks ago that there were to many smaller projects to list.
One Herb Wolff, one Montgomery County taxpayer said that is like going to your banker for a home loan. The loan being much more than the homes asking price. As the banker questions it, you respond with the difference is just a long laundry list of things I need around the house.
The other item is FM 1097, a State Highway. The bond shows a cost of $18 million and shows locations of a project. The project shows for local participation in preliminary engineering and construction. It doesn’t say what construction
However TXDOT officials said Monday project CCSJ” 1259-01-039 was let in January for base repair and a 1.5” overlay of FM 1097 from FM 149 to IH45, a length of 13.6 miles for a cost of $4,097,442.00 CLICK HERE FOR TXDOT DOCUMENT Remember now the bond has not even been voted on. So why is it TXDOT is already letting a project that local participation is not even a guarantee. If it did pass why would they spend this amount of money to come back and tear it up to do something else.
Before a project can be bid on by a business, TxDOT must let it, or make it available for bidding. The letting and bidding process with TxDOT allows the Agency to get the most competitive pricing on a project and allows multiple businesses to compete for business with TxDOT. This sometimes is a long process.
The projects in Precinct 3 were proposed after a study was done on the traffic patterns in Montgomery County. Precinct 3 projects are the only ones on the bond which actually had documented studies done and deemed as needed.
Precinct 4 also has a few projects which people question. One is Gene Campbell Road, this road is mainly used for the Wal-Mart Distribution Center. The cost to partially reclaim it, and work the ditches is $1.5 million. Remember now this bond is a 30 year bond. Can this heavily traveled road hold up for 30 years before it needs to be done again or are our children or grand-children going to be burdened with another bond to do it again. Previous to Clark was Commissioner Rinehart who reclaimed and re-topped this road not long ago.
Another Precinct 4 project calls for widen SH 105 from Loop 336 to San Jacinto County Line. The distance on the project list is 4.5 miles when that actual distance is 9.8 miles. This is also a state highway. There is no mention of what happens after it hits the San Jacinto County line which is a very short distance before it goes back to Montgomery County and continues to Fostoria Road. This segment also has a bridge over railroad tracks and is where the family of four died last year at the base of that bridge. That is a 4.5 mile section.
It also calls for adding two lanes to Old Houston Road, a road plagued with crashes. The narrow curved 1.8 mile road has mostly deep ditches on both sides of the road with private property coming to those ditches. The bond calls for 3.23 miles at a cost of $1.9 million dollars. If equates to about $200 per foot to acquire property, dig new ditches, replace driveway culverts, stabilize the road, lay four lanes of asphalt and strip it. Many don’t believe it is possible and that is a number just pulled out of a hat. Also why the difference in length of the roadway is the other question.
ABC 13 TOM ABRAHAMS STORY ON THE ROAD BOND
COMMISSIONER NOACK AND HIS OPINION ON TAX INCREASE WITH THE BOND
LIST OF PROJECTS ARE BELOW
PROJECT LIST
Precinct 1 (New construction)
1. FM 1097 from Interstate 45 to Blueberry Hill, local participation. Cost: $8 million.
2. FM 1097 from Interstate 45 to Anderson Road, local participation. Cost: $5 million
3. FM 1097 Anderson Road to Lake Conroe Hills, local participation. Cost: $3 million
4. FM 1097 Lake Conroe Hills to Blueberry Hill, local participation. Cost: $2 million
5. Airport perimeter road, access to south property. Cost: $1 million
Precinct 1 (Rehab and widening)
6. Walden Road, entrance to Emerson. Cost: $6 million
7. Lone Star Parkway, Texas 105 east of Montgomery to Texas 105 west. Cost: $4 million
8. Willis-Waukegan Road, precinct line to FM 1484. Cost: $3 million
9. Mt. Mariah Road, Old Highway 105 to FM 1486. Cost: $3 million
10. Spring Branch Road, precinct line to Old Plantersville Road. Cost: $6 million
11. Calvary Road, Texas 75 to end. Cost: $5 million
12. Shepard Hill Road, Calvary to Interstate 45. Cost $5 million
13. Rogers Road, Mt. Zion to city limit. Cost: $4 million
14. Bays Chapel Road, FM 149 to William Hoke Road. Cost: $4 million
15. Longstreet Road, Interstate 45 to FM 1097. Cost: $3 million
16. Bois D’Arc, Conroe city limit to Lone Star Bend. Cost: $1.5 million
17. Walden Road at Grand Harbor Boulevard. Cost: $500,000
18. Willis Loop Road, FM 1097 to Old Montgomery Road. Cost: $1 million
19. Airport entrance, Deison Parkway to FSS Road. Cost: $1 million
20. Cude Cemetery Road, FM 830 to Lake Conroe. Cost: $1.5 million
21. Deison Parkway, Fm 1484 to Airport Road. Cost: $1 million
22. Miscellaneous street repair. Cost: $11 million
Precinct 2 (New construction)
1. Woodlands Parkway extension to Texas 249. Cost: $22 million
2. Nichols Sawmill Road extension. Cost: $9.7 million
3. Fish Creek Thoroughfare. Cost: $17.3 million
4. Research Forest. Cost: $8 million
5. FM 1774 overpass at FM 1488. Cost $5 million
6. Magnolia Bypass. Cost: $10 million (matching funds)
Precinct 2 (Connectivity improvements)
7. Texas 242 at Gosling Road, add turn lane. Cost: $636,000
8. Texas 242 at Greenbridge Drive, add turn lane. Cost: $137,000
9. FM 1488 at Kuykendahl, add turn lane. Cost: $613,000
Precinct 2 (Rehab/resurface. Total cost of all projects: $6.6 million)
10. Old Hockley
11. Coe Loop
12. Decker Prairie Rosehill
13. Hardin Store
14. Dobbin Huffsmith
15. Nichols Sawmill
16. Old Hempstead Road
17. Honea Egypt
18. Roberts Cemetery
19. Pine Lake Road
20. Mail Route Road
21. Old Highway 105
22. Rabon Chapel
23. Spring Branch Road
24. Goodson Loop
Precinct 3 (New construction)
1. Rayford Road railroad-Texas 99 and Overpass at railroad – widen to six lanes. Cost – $60 million
2. Woodlands Parkway westbound direct connection – Grogans Mill to Interstate 45. Cost – $25.25 million
3. Robinson road, realign and widen to four lands from Interstate 45 to railroad. Cost – $8 million
4. Gosling Road bridge. Cost- $3.8 million
5. Precinct wide signal and intersection improvements and overlays. Cost – $3.1 million
6. Widen Lake Woodlands Drive from east of Lake Front Circle to Interstate 45 to six lanes. Cost – $2.6 million
7. Add fourth westbound land to Woodlands Parkway from Woodloch to Grogans Mill. Cost – $2.2 million
Precinct 4 (New construction)
1. Texas 105, widen to four lanes from Loop 336 to San Jacinto County Line, local participation. Cost: $23.5 million
2. FM 1314, Texas 242 bridge widening, local participation. Cost: $4.7 million
3. Texas 242, widen to four lanes from Needham Road to FM 1314, with bridge at San Jacinto River, local participation. Cost $12.6 million
4. FM 1485, eastbound turn land at Interstate 69, local participation. Cost: $300,000
5. Gene Campbell Road, overlay with ditches. Cost: $1.5 million
6. Old Houston Road, from Texas 242 to FM 3083. Cost: $1.9 million
7. Sorters Road, from FM 1314 to Kingwood Drive, widen to four lanes. Cost: $17.2 million
8. David Memorial, Shenandoah Park Drive to Texas 242. Cost: $2 million
9. Galaxy Boulevard, rehab and extension from FM 1485 to Roman Forest Boulevard. Cost: $2 million
10. Willaby Road, rehab and widening from FM 1485 to Shire Drive. Cost: $1 million
11. Tamina Road, widen to four lands from David Memorial to Main Street. Cost: $4.2 million
12. Main Street, overlay, maintain ditches. Cost: $300,000
13. Bennette Estates, overlay, maintain ditches. Cost: $1.2 million
14. Crystal Forest, overlay, maintain ditches. Cost: $100,000
15. Deerwood, overlay, maintain ditches. Cost: $1.5 million
16. Texaba, overlay, maintain ditches. Cost: $2.2 million
17. Peach Creek Forest, overlay, maintain ditches. Cost: $1.1 million
18. Trade Center Parkway, spot repair and overlay from Texas 242 to Harpers Landing. Cost: $1.8 million
Precinct 4 (Drainage projects)
19. Allendale, Lake Circle to west end Allendale. Cost: $500,000
20. River Oaks, Needham Road to east end. Cost: $1 million
Precinct 4 (Studies, preliminary, engineering)
21. FM 1485, Kidd Cemetery Road to Texas 242. Cost: $1.4 million
22. Porter Lane drainage project: Cost: $250,000
23. Ford Road, US 59 to Harris County line. Cost: $2 million
24. Tamina Community drainage study. Cost: $150,000
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