Houston: Texas Heritage Parkway, new 100% roundabout street

[MaxConcrete]

I was looking through the web site and meeting agendas of the Fort Bend County and saw approval of an item for Westpark Tollway "Main Lane Extension FM-723 to TX Heritage Pkwy (Design Only): Design phase of Westpark Tollway main lane extensions from FM-723 to Texas Heritage Parkway."  http://www.fbctra.com/projects/  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oLKz2ZMo3Z7MIrFCgTQTrs9H-0WQooGr/view

I had not heard of Texas Heritage Parkway, so I looked on Google maps and it was nowhere to be found. A Google search then revealed its identity.

Once upon a time, sometime in the 2000s, I remember a very conceptual proposal to curve the Westpark Tollway northward around Fulshear and connect it to IH-10. That idea died quickly, and the Texas Heritage Parkway seems to be designed to meet the north-south travel need.

This road is a style of design not previously used in Texas. It will be a four-lane roadway, like most arterial streets in the area, but will be on a 200-foot-wide (61m) right-of-way with a wide median, with adjacent recreational trail and heavy landscaping. All 10 intersections will be roundabouts, with no traffic signals on the 6.4-mile-route. Of course, roundabouts are being used more in the United States these days, but this is the first instance in Texas that I'm aware of for a road which is 100% roundabout.

This link is scheduled to die March 31 to due site shutdown: https://www.coveringkaty.com/mobility/texas-heritage-parkway-construction-to-start-soon/article_7b15b8f0-f594-11e9-8ac1-633f83262d10.html
https://communityimpact.com/news/2019/10/22/fort-bend-county-advances-funding-for-texas-heritage-parkway-new-emergency-operations-center/
https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/katy-news/article/Heritage-Parkway-project-moving-forward-with-12747166.php#photo-15219919

The dates on this map are wrong, earliest completion is probably the end of 2020. Route 1093 is the Westpark Tollway. The parkway is on the west side of Cross Creek Ranch where it crosses the tollway.

[nolia_boi504]

There's been alot of discussion about this locally. It's a huge deal for the West Katy and Fulshear areas, especially as a relief for the Grand Parkway.

Fort Bend County Commissioner Andy Meyers' Facebook page regularly posts updates for this project, as well as the upcoming Grand Parkway Expansion between WPTW and I-10 (including 2 new direct connectors between WPTW and 99). He (or his people) do a great job responding to questions/comments to his posts.

Lots of stuff coming in this area

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[CoreySamson]

What really is the purpose of those pedestrian tunnels? I'm guessing to improve safety, but to me it just looks like they'll be flooded all the time.
Besides, who is even going to be walking in that area? That doesn't seem like a wise investment.

[nolia_boi504]

It will eventually be surrounded with houses on both sides, since it's a rapidly growing area. The idea of no stop signs/lights requires grade separation of traffic from people. Also, it's a good thing (for us Houstonians) if the tunnels/park space flood --- better than in our homes!

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[armadillo speedbump]

I hope they leave room in the design to for future mainlane overpasses across the circles.

Edit:  Nevermind, just looked at the existing Pederson/Kingsland roundabout near I-10.  It looks like it will just be another arterial running directly behind homes.  Probably 35-45 mph speed limit.

[thisdj78]

Is this a revised version of the old proposed Prairie Parkway?

http://stateofwilderness.com/2014/02/09/prairie-parkway/

[CoreySamson]

It will eventually be surrounded with houses on both sides, since it's a rapidly growing area. The idea of no stop signs/lights requires grade separation of traffic from people. Also, it's a good thing (for us Houstonians) if the tunnels/park space flood --- better than in our homes!

Pixel 4

True though, I never thought about it exactly that way.

[Revive 755]

"Uninterrupted traffic flow"?  So these are not true roundabouts, but will be signed so Texas Heritage Parkway gets right of way over any conflicting traffic already in the roundabouts?

Given the number of lanes in those roundabouts I'm sure there will be a few crashes to interrupt the flow as well.

[MaxConcrete]

Is this a revised version of the old proposed Prairie Parkway?

http://stateofwilderness.com/2014/02/09/prairie-parkway/

The Heritage Parkway was planned separately from the Prairie Parkway and I don't think it was planned to serve the mobility needs that the Prairie Parkway was intended to serve, but as a practical matter it will be a replacement since the freeway/tollway version of the Prairie Parkway is dead.

The Prairie Parkway became officially dead only recently (late 2019) when the local MPO approved a new mobility plan for Waller County. The map shows a corridor along FM 362 which is "limited access" but the right-of-way set-aside is only planned to be 180 feet and it is not planned to be a freeway/tollway. The documents and meeting discussion (from the video when it was approved) really don't make it clear what it is planned to be, but it appears to be planned to be a highway with potentially some grade separations.

Of course it's possible the "limited access" corridor could be upgraded in the future, but unlikely because the reason for removing the Prairie Parkway from the plan (according to meeting discussion) was because locals did not want it.

http://www.h-gac.com/thoroughfare-planning/documents/2019-waller-county-regional-thoroughfare-plan-map.pdf.pdf
http://www.h-gac.com/thoroughfare-planning/documents/waller-county-transportation-plan-executive-summary.pdf