Oak Ridge North looks to improve flow of traffic through city

As Robinson Road, the two-lane thoroughfare that cuts through the heart of the small city of Oak Ridge North, continues to channel thousands of cars through the bedroom community, city officials are looking at alternatives for improving traffic flow.

When Montgomery County residents voted down the proposed $350 million road bond last May, in addition to nixing the controversial Woodlands Parkway extension to Texas 249, they slashed an $8 million project to widen Robinson Road and realign it at Hanna Road to the east.

Currently, Robinson Road cuts off at Hanna Road and motorists have to endure two stop signs before crossing the railroad tracks to continue on Robinson Road.

But the plan to realign the road met with opposition from some city residents who believed that the road’s new path would cut through existing homes and a church.

While city officials maintained that they were unsure of how much private property would be affected by the project, it was dropped from the second road bond that passed in November because Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack didn’t want to jeopardize the bond for a controversial project.

So Oak Ridge North went back to the drawing board to look for alternative solutions to the crippling traffic.

“I think the community wants to see something done,” said Oak Ridge North Mayor Jim Kuykendall. “We’re still way overcapacity on that road. We still have people taking shortcuts through residential streets, which isn’t safe.”

The city council hired RPS Klotz Associates civil engineering firm to perform a traffic study and, in June, the firm presented five alternatives for the city council to consider.

The projects range from $1 million to $5.4 million and include adding a traffic signal at Robinson and Hanna roads, realigning Robinson Road and adding a signal and an extended left turn lane at Hanna Road, realigning Robinson, adding a signal at Hanna and widening Robinson to four lanes, as well as the two of the more expensive alternatives, adding an east/west connector road or a north/south connector road.

Kuykendall said that none of the proposed alternatives involve taking land from the church or homes.

“It’s just a discussion at this point,” said City Manager Vicky Rudy, who emphasized that the city council still wants some clarification from the engineers before it makes any decisions. “For everything you do, it can cause impacts in other areas … (This study is) one more step in the process. It’s taking a while, but we’ll get there.”

City council was set to discuss the alternatives again at its council meeting earlier this week.