The Houston Chronicle reports that a study will soon begin to identify improvements to the Westpark Tollway.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/transportation/article/westpark-tollway-expansion-fort-bend-18099834.phpThis is a pleasant surprise, but we can't assume the study will have a logical or favorable outcome. The Democratic majority (now 4-1) on Harris County commissioners court has mostly suspended planned projects (e.g. Hardy Toll Road extension), diverting funds to bicycle lanes and flood control projects, and talking up public transit. As the article mentions, they are in no hurry to get this study done. However, the article says this is a widening project and widening is expected. It sounds like Fort Bend County may be the main advocate for more lanes. Fort Bend County owns about 5.5 miles of the 13-mile section between Beltway 8 and the Grand Parkway.
The tollway is 2x2. Outside Beltway 8, there is a 50 foot strip of land along most of the tollway that could be available if Metro (the owner) agrees. (Inside Beltway 8, the strip is slated to become a bus rapid transit facility.) If they want a public transit feature, I think the most reasonable solution is to expand to 3-1H-3 (H=HOV). It could be possible to go to 4x4, but without interior shoulders.
I think the top priority should be adding missing connections at the Sam Houston Tollway, the southbound-westbound and eastbound-northbound connections. But that will be expensive, requiring long elevated ramps and probably raising the high-voltage lines going across the intersection.
“This is an expansion,” Harris County Toll Road Authority Executive Director Roberto Trevino said, stressing that a wider tollway is likely. “What’s great is, we are thinking about all the options, leveraging all the mobility options so maybe that means transit partnerships or new ways of serving people beyond just raising prices and adding capacity.”
HCTRA will pay for and choose a contractor for the study, pending approval Tuesday from Harris County Commissioners’ Court. The Metropolitan Transit Authority, city of Houston and Fort Bend County will cooperate, as both own strips of land along the tollway that could be used for possible expansions or creation of transit-only lanes aimed at taking cars and trucks off the tollway.
While the entire corridor will be considered, Trevino said most of the focus will be on the segment from the Sam Houston Tollway to Grand Parkway, which has some of the largest demand.
Officials said they could not detail exactly what form that would take or a timeline for the study’s completion.
“We are going to take our time and do it right,” Trevino said.
Time, however, may not be on officials’ side as they try to keep up with rapid growth along the corridor, notably outside the Sam Houston Tollway to the Grand Parkway. During peak commutes times – inbound in the morning and outbound in the evening – Trevino said Westpark often operates with delays and heavy traffic, with roughly 25,000 vehicles using the tollway daily.
Use is expected to increase, said Fort Bend County Judge K P George, who noted the county has grown to 894,000 residents, from 590,000 in 2010.
“We’re going to have 1 million people by 2026,” George said.
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Topic: Houston: Westpark Tollway (Read 10989 times)