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Westpark Tollway Extension About To Begin


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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 phases
Phase 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 far
Phase 3 (future): through Fulshear to James Lane west of Fulshear

Phase 1
Only 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 miles
Bids opened in December, lowest bid $63.9 million by Webber
Total project cost $116.3 million including right-of-way and administrative costs
Bonds 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 completion

Phase 2
Expected to start in December 2016 and complete in June 2018
Construction estimate: $37 million
Total cost: $69 million
This appears to be frontage roads only


Main 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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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