MaxConcrete Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 I obtained this info at the meeting of the Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority this evening. The project extends the Westpark Tollway westward from its terminus at the Grand Parkway (SH 99) to Fulshear. It will have the same design features as the existing adjacent section: four lanes of frontage roads (two each way) and four tolled main lanes.There are three phasesPhase 1: Grand Parkway to FM 1463, 4 miles.Phase 2: FM 1463 westward, they said 4.15 miles at the meeting, not sure exactly where it ends since 4.15 miles would go into Fulshear and I don't think it goes that farPhase 3 (future): through Fulshear to James Lane west of FulshearPhase 1Only 2.2 miles of tolled main lanes will be built, to west of Spring Green road, due to financial and environmental constraints. Frontage roads will be built for the western 1.8 milesBids opened in December, lowest bid $63.9 million by WebberTotal project cost $116.3 million including right-of-way and administrative costsBonds sold last week at a rate of 3.86% interest, well below the budgeted value of 5%Construction should be underway around March or soon after with February 2018 completionPhase 2Expected to start in December 2016 and complete in June 2018Construction estimate: $37 millionTotal cost: $69 millionThis appears to be frontage roads onlyMain lanes beyond the first 2.2 miles will be built when funds are available and environment clearance is received. FBCTRA is currently maxed out on its borrowing ability, so more main lane work may not start for 2-3 years.The favorable interest rate and low bid price for phase 1 will probably allow main lane extension to proceed sooner rather than later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fringe Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Should have begun three years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 There will still be a choke point at beltway 8 though. Any way to fix that one, or is the road painted into a corner? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 There will still be a choke point at beltway 8 though. Any way to fix that one, or is the road painted into a corner?There's not enough room to build a flyover for the Westbound traffic to head North on Beltway 8. There's plenty of open field, of course, but there are two critical power lines that would require relocation (millions) and an easement into the land owned by the Power Company (many more millions).It's just not cost effective from HCTRA's viewpoint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Figured as much. I suspect that Westpark is way over capacity from what the original design was Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Yeah it's insane at that intersection, and this extension won't do too much in alleviating this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 If anything it will make it worse - more people from the suburbs will use it to commute to the Energy Corridor, Uptown, and Downtown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxConcrete Posted January 22, 2016 Author Share Posted January 22, 2016 There is also an agreement between FBCTRA and TxDOT for FBCTRA to build a direct connector ramp from the eastbound Westpark Tollway to the northbound Grand Parkway. The technical challenges were discussed at yesterday's FBCTRA meeting. Because of the existing on and off-ramps on the northbound Grand Parkway between the Westpark Tollway and Fry Road, there is no space to merge in the connection ramp, so they are now looking at extending the ramp to connect with the main lanes on the Fry Road overpass.This would make the ramp over a mile long, and jack up the price to around $36 million. Since FBCRTA won't have that money anytime soon, the ramp won't get built anytime soon. I'm thinking they will continue to study the options to possibly find a less expensive alternative. They also mentioned that TxDOT will develop a schematic this year for widening the Grand Parkway to six main lanes between the Westpark Tollway and IH 10. This seems to be needed sooner rather than later since I often notice yellows and orange on Houston Transtar traffic maps on that segment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumbleweed_Tx Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 There's not enough room to build a flyover for the Westbound traffic to head North on Beltway 8. that's not the problem. The problem is traffic merging onto westbound Westpark Toll Road from the Beltway. The WTR needs anther westbound lane all the way to Hwy 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 Anyone know when the extension from the East End to Newcastle will begin? Also does anyone know what's going on, near Krump Stadium in Alief? It looks like they might be adding an exit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLWM8609 Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 Anyone know when the extension from the East End to Newcastle will begin? I didn't know such an extension was in the works. I can't find anything about it. Source? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 I saw it on reddit a while back. I'm guessing it was just gossip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bajaok Posted April 6, 2017 Share Posted April 6, 2017 Need to go ahead and build the light rail alongside it as planned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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