The Road Bond Debate goes on but this is the two hour uncut video from the public forum held Thursday night near The Woodlands. Several hundred attended to get more information on what the bond was going to do for them. Below are some of the projects that are on the bond. Remember this is to help mobility. Many are opposed due to the projects listed would otherwise be in a commissioners budget. Others say many are state roads which the tax payers already pay for. However the contention is that if Montgomery County funds part of the project that TXDOT which is very underfunded will move the project on the state roads up on the list. Few have letters of intent from TXDOT to do so.
The biggest stumbling block appears to be Woodlands Parkway Extension which will go through a wooded area, across Dobbin Huffsmith and end at SH 249. The fear by many is it will dump excess traffic onto already overloaded Woodlands Parkway. yet FM 1488 which is four lane from I-45 narrows back to two lane before Magnolia. An overpass is planned in the City of Magnolia on State Highway FM 1488 and State Highway FM 1774 to cross the railroad tracks. Yet there is nothing in the bond to increase the two lanes of FM 1488 to four lanes.
Hardin Store Road is two lane which starts on FM 2978 to just south of Woodlands Parkway and goes southwest ending on SH 249. It is heavily traveled and a crash or a train coming across on one of the two grade crossings brings that road to a stand still. The bond calls for rehab of the road but not widening.
The bond calls for a perimeter road around the airport to make it easier to access the south side of the Montgomery County Airport. Many question how many will use that road. Grand Harbor at Walden Road was just resurfaced but there is $500,00 earmarked to improve that intersection for safety.
When you move to the Precinct Three list the projects lined out are projects of roads with very heavy traffic and the roads listed are the only ones on the list of almost 100 throughout the county which were actually studied and suggested by the Houston Galveston Area Council as needing to be done. These roads actually do assist mobility in all aspects. Some of the projects in the other precincts were included in studies but to a minimal extent.
On Precinct 4 list are many roads that will help mobility and yet some are questioned. Old Houston Road from SH 242 to FM 3083 is traveled daily by busses and cars going to the Caney Creek High School and the many other schools on both FM 3083 and FM 1485. Is is a winding road, no sidewalks and in many places no shoulders with deep bar ditches. SH 105 east is another state highway which dos need to be widened to four lanes but again is a state highway. Gene Campbell from FM 1314 to FM 1485 has been done several times before but due to the many trucks in and out of the Wal-Mart Distribution Center the roads are in need of repair again. The shoulders, even with no parking signs and a nightly parking lot for 18-wheelers. Sorters Road is another road with heavy traffic which goes between Kingwood Drive and FM 1314. It has many curves and has seen many serious crashes, some of which were fatal. It is also traveled by many dump trucks during the day coming from the many sand pits along that road. Bennette Estates is a subdivision off FM 1314, one way in and one way out. Here residents fight daily with the speeding dump trucks loaded with sand coming from the sand pits in the back of the subdivision. The residents agree the roads need to be resurfaced and widened but feel that in the next few years it will be needed again with the heavy loads. Here again if a crash happens in the entrance of the subdivision the residents are blocked from coming or going.
In the coming two weeks MCPR plans to visit the sites throughout the county and show what actually exists on those roadways and what the condition of each is.
Look at the lists below,
PRECINCT 1
PRECINCT 2
PRECINCT 3
PRECINCT 4
- 7. FM 1485
- 8. Gene Campbell Rd
- 10. Tamina
- 13. Trade Center Parkway
- 15. Old Houston Rd
- 20. Sorters Rd
- 29. Main
- 31. SH 105
- 32. Ford Road
- 39. FM 1314 – SH 242 Bridge
- 39. FM 1314 at SH 242 Overpass
- 43. Bennette Estates
- 44. Crystal Forest
- 45. Deerwood
- 46. Texaba
- 47. Peach Creek Forest
- 48. Allendale
- 49. River Oaks
- 50. David Memorial
- 51. Galaxy Blvd
- 58. Porter Lane Drainage Proj
- 59. Tamina Community
- 61. FM 1485
- 63. Willaby Road
- 64. SH 242
