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Highway projects galore will boost travel
Published September 30, 2009
It would take some effort to overstate the importance of road projects approved for pass-through toll funding by the Texas Transportation Commission. The same is true for another project on the verge of beginning — the expansion of FM 2004 between Highway 288 and Highway 288-B through Lake Jackson and Richwood.
Each has its own reasons for celebration, but area officials and business leaders definitely are celebrating.
State officials last week gave the go-ahead to $29.4 million in pass-through toll funding that includes segments of Highway 36 in Brazoria, West Columbia and at Port Freeport, which will be a joint project with Brazoria County. The state commission also approved $24.6 million in funding for FM 865, also called Cullen Road. That is a joint project with the city of Pearland.
Pass-through tolls refer to the formula the state uses to reimburse the cost of highway construction, based on how much traffic the road sees. Users of the highway do not have to pay an actual toll as they do on the Beltway in Houston, for example.
The Highway 36 work is noteworthy for its benefit both to commerce and average, everyday residents.
The proposal calls for widening the highway to four lanes from the West Columbia city limits to CR 467, or Stephen F. Austin Road; building an overpass where the road meets Highway 35; and widening the highway to four lanes from the Brazoria city limits to West Brazos Junior High School. Those segments, merged with existing stretches of four-lane highway, will help alleviate bottlenecks during hurricane evacuations, as well as snarls caused by trucks hauling goods from Port Freeport.
At the port, parts of FM 1495 and Highway 36 would be elevated to create a raised intersection to keep port traffic at the ground level and regular traffic on the new level, again aiding the smooth flow of commerce.
The state’s approval was long anticipated — the county’s share of the cost was part of the mobility bond approved by voters five years ago. How much that share will be still is to be determined during negotiations between Brazoria County and Texas Department of Transportation officials, though county officials expect their match to be 20 to 25 percent.
Once a deal is in place, design work can begin. Construction on the pass-through project still likely is years away.
That’s not the case with the FM 2004 expansion, which is set to see heavy equipment turning over earth in about two weeks. It should take about 18 months and, once complete, will open up another stretch of the area for growth and ease traffic congestion.
The two-lane road will double in size with a grassy median separating the two directions of travel. That in itself will be welcome. But what will bring the most relief for area drivers will be the overpass at the railroad tracks at Old Angleton Road. Gone will be the frustrating train backups that now plague the highway.
We haven’t even mentioned the Highway 288 work that will provide unfettered travel to Houston. With all the changes coming to area highways, there is one thing that won’t be expanding: the amount of complaining from bottlenecked drivers.
This editorial was written by Michael Morris, assistant managing editor of The Facts.
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