NEW PIKE PROPOSED Fort Bend, SW of Houston wants pike

NEW PIKE PROPOSED

Fort Bend, SW of Houston wants pike

Fort Bend, a rapidly growing county on the southwest fringe of the Houston TX metro area is moving to build a toll road spur off the new Sam Houston Toll Road (Beltway 8). The spur, to be known as the Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road, has been promoted by the Greater Fort Bend Economic Development Council which represents local businesses. The county government has established a Fort Bend Toll Road Authority to raise money, get the pike built, and run it, if a feasibility study pans out.

The Parkway pike is to be 9.9km in length running almost due south from an interchange at Hillcroft on the new southern section of the Sam Houston toll road, located some 20km southwest of City Hall in downtown Houston. The western part of Fort Bend County (pop 300k), notable for housing estates built around waterfront and lakes off Oyster Creek is now quite developed. Its main access to the highway network of the metro area is via I-59. The next main radial freeway, following Beltway-8 counter-clockwise, is TX-288 connecting the county east of Fort Bend (Brazoria CO) to the CBD. The gap between the freeways is about 22km and the proposed county toll road will head off the Beltway about midway. The first 10km section is estimated to cost about $50m and will cater to development of the eastern half of the county. A Sienna Plantation development of 7,000 acres is expected to add 45,000 people to the population here in the next several years.

Feasibility study $s: The major incorporated area of the county Missouri City has $1m for a feasibility study. The mayor Allen Owen says the tollroad is "crucial" and that there is full citizen support. If the county waits for the state to finance it, it will wait at least 10 years, while it needs the new road now. TX-6 the east-west highway at the end of the proposed first stage of the toll road is to be upgraded with state, county and developer funds, and land will be reserved for extensions of the toll road southwest at least another 20km to TX-99 and perhaps beyond. Another possibility is a northward extension to a radial arterial 90A in Harris Co.

Back of the envelop calculations have suggested the first stage of the toll road could work with a $1 toll, according to the pike's promoters. Moreover, they say, there's support for the 'user pays' principle involved in toll financing. (Contact Herb Appel Greater Fort Bend Eco Dev Council 281 242 0000)