Grand Parkway south segment gets OK
28.6-mile route clears concerns over environment
The Grand Parkway between Texas 288 and Interstate 45 has an officially permitted route, one step forward in what could be years of more study and planning for another section of the controversial and costly third ring — envisioned to one day stretch 180 miles — around Houston.
The Texas Department of Transportation announced last week that another portion of the highway project finally cleared environmental hurdles. Federal officials already gave their approval on Nov. 30, which is important because anything built after that date would not be eligible for noise abatement paid for by the state.
The route for so-called Segment B of the Grand Parkway starts at Texas 288 near County Road 60 in Brazoria County. The tollway planned for two lanes in each direction, then swings south to parallel the South Texas Water Co. Canal before joining with Texas 35. The tollway then will mirror Texas 35 northeast, swinging with the highway around Alvin, then break from the highway and head east to connect with I-45 south of League City.
According to state officials, the 28.6-mile tollway will require 1,072 acres of new right of way, displacing 13 businesses and 17 residences.
TxDOT estimated in July 2016 this segment would cost $1.2 billion. The final tab will be determined by a number of factors, notably when construction begins. Tentatively, during
“There are a lot of conversations all over the region of what is a priority.” Raquelle Lewis, spokeswoman for TxDOT in Houston
the environmental study process transportation officials projected the tollway segment to be open to traffic in 2035.
The Houston metro area’s explosive growth, however, has many highway projects in flux, said Raquelle Lewis, spokeswoman for TxDOT in Houston.
“There is certainly some conversation going on in the Brazoria and Fort Bend areas in terms of connectivity and the development that is happening in the Brazosport area,” Lewis said. “There are a lot of conversations all over the region of what is a priority.” Toll study next
Ultimately, available money will dictate what highway projects get built and when. In Texas, transportation officials are flush with new cash, but all of it comes with strings attached. Last week, both the State House and State Senate budget makers allocated for the full $2.5 billion of additional transportation funding from the 2015 Proposition 7 referendum, meaning over two years a $5.2 billion increase in spending for roads.
Since much of the money was expected and locked in by voters with legislative support, transportation officials last year revised long-term highway spending plans. Per the legislative language Texas voters approved, all of the money must be spent on highway improvements.
“None of those dollars can be used to advance toll facilities,” Lewis said. Public transit projects also lost out on the additional state money.
The likely next step, if officials decide to accelerate Segment B of the Grand Parkway, would be studying the feasibility of charging tolls to pay for the next section of road. Though tolls are often maligned by drivers frustrated by the increasing cost of traveling around the area, they are typically successful in the Houston area.
For example, the most recent segments of the Grand Parkway to open, from U.S. 290 to Interstate 45 in northwestern Harris County, have exceeded officials’ estimates in terms of use and revenues. Prior to the new tollway segments opening, the Grand Parkway logged about 2 million transactions per month — meaning vehicles passed under a toll transponder 2 million times. From August to November, the Grand Parkway logged more than 10 million transactions monthly.
For fiscal 2017, which started Sept. 1, the tollway system has generated $34.2 million in revenue based on its latest financial report, which is $15.9 million more than officials estimated. What goes first
Other segments planned for the third loop around the Houston area, are in various stages of planning. TxDOT plans to award construction of an initial phase of the portion from U.S. 59 south to Interstate 10 later this year. The first phase will build one lane in each direction.
The segment from U.S. 59 to Texas 288, called Segment C, also has its environmental clearance, and like Segment B is awaiting some financial study.
Lewis said the Grand Parkway sections will go in order of which are most important and practical to build at that time, and that segments that reached environmental clearance first should not be an indication those projects will be built in the order they received federal approval.
A litany of local and state agreements also are major factors. According to the multi-county agreement that accelerated work on the Grand Parkway in the past 12 years, the segments in Fort Bend and Brazoria counties must be tolled. For Segment B, Brazoria and Galveston counties also retain the right to the develop the project first.
If the counties give up their right to build these highway sections, the state can proceed as it did with the most recent segments of the Grand Parkway and a tollway now under construction along Texas 288 from downtown Houston to Brazoria County.