The Next Loop?

[Subdude]

I saw this map from westhouston.org that shows the extended Westpark Tollway.  On it Westpark terminates at a "next phase" North-South tollway called Fulshear Parkway.  So is Fulshear Parkway a stub of a planned eventual Grander Parkway around Houston?  It would seem odd to build a tollway just to go between Fulshear and I-10.

 

[brijonmang]

The last I saw this parkway mentioned, it didn't make a full loop. It was more of a north-south corridor from Cypress to south of I-10.  

[intencity77]

I believe this might be part of the proposed "Prairie Parkway". It's suppose to start near Waller at 290, go south through the Fulshear area, then end out west of Rosenberg, tying into Patton Road. On a map it appears more like a half loop like brijon mentioned.

[LarryDierker]

Never thought I'd say it, but

It's time for a green belt dammit.

[Subdude]

I believe this might be part of the proposed "Prairie Parkway". It's suppose to start near Waller at 290, go south through the Fulshear area, then end out west of Rosenberg, tying into Patton Road. On a map it appears more like a half loop like brijon mentioned.

 

Well that makes sense.  I can see where there would be a need for a tollway to handle all that Waller-Rosenberg traffic.  Would it not be better to also extend it eastward from Rosenberg to Clute? 

[intencity77]

Well that makes sense. I can see where there would be a need for a tollway to handle all that Waller-Rosenberg traffic. Would it not be better to also extend it eastward from Rosenberg to Clute?

Actually, Fort Bend's long range mobility plans call for the Fort Bend Parkway to eventually terminate at Prairie Parkway near Needville. But I did just see a map, google searching, suggesting the Prairie Parkway would eventually be extended to the Freeport area. So who knows what the full scope of this project may encompass. It's still far off but some residential developers have already designated land for the parkway within their projects, such as Cross Creek Ranch. Both Waller and Fort Bend Counties have been and will be the driving force behind this project. IMO, while it's not a full loop, per say, it definitively appears to be the beginnings of another one for the long range future.

[cloud713]

Actually, Fort Bend's long range mobility plans call for the Fort Bend Parkway to eventually terminate at Prairie Parkway near Needville. But I did just see a map, google searching, suggesting the Prairie Parkway would eventually be extended to the Freeport area. So who knows what the full scope of this project may encompass. It's still far off but some residential developers have already designated land for the parkway within their projects, such as Cross Creek Ranch. Both Waller and Fort Bend Counties have been and will be the driving force behind this project. IMO, while it's not a full loop, per say, it definitively appears to be the beginnings of another one for the long range future.

down toward the freeport area? do you have a link to that map? i havent heard of it being extended that far south before. nevermind. just googled it and found an article about it from the Houston Sierra Club. Its seen as a bypass of Houston for traffic coming from the Port of Freeport. i didnt realize the port was that busy, but it would sure take a lot of trucks off 288 and the other local roads they use getting through town.

Edited September 28, 2013 by cloud713

[LTAWACS]

Wasn't there a proposed master planned community near fulshear or sealy that's still on the drawing board?

[ig2ba]

down toward the freeport area? do you have a link to that map? i havent heard of it being extended that far south before. nevermind. just googled it and found an article about it from the Houston Sierra Club. Its seen as a bypass of Houston for traffic coming from the Port of Freeport. i didnt realize the port was that busy, but it would sure take a lot of trucks off 288 and the other local roads they use getting through town.

 

As preparation for the Panama Canal expansion, there is a plan to enable Texas's ports to better handle increased cargo movement. I forget the name of the commission, but they released a study of some kind which is somewhere out there on the internets.

 

IIRC, it involved dredging, some changes to the Intracoastal Canal, and widening some roads to/from the ports. Something is planned for all of Texas's ports (BPA, Houston, Galveston, Freeport, Corpus, Isabel), but the focus is mostly on Freeport and Houston. Widening and improving TX Hwy 36 is part of that. Now that I look at a map, it looks like this could tie in nicely with TX 36 south of Rosenberg. Maybe this is what they had in mind.

[David Crossley]

The Prairie Parkway is now known as 36A. It would connect Freeport to Hempstead at 290. There is perhaps some argument for making that connection better for trucks, but there is no decent argument for taking it through open prairie above I-10, which is the plan. There is already a state highway (36) that goes north from Freeport to Rosenberg, but it veers off to the west there. So a connection is needed from Rosenberg to Fulshear, which would then pick up FM359 which could be widened, sadly, to get to Hempstead.

 

The reason the promoters want to go wandering off across the prairie instead of using 359 is so they can put in the infrastructure for building houses and strip malls and big boxes.

 

There are big issues with the Katy Prairie Conservancy, whose land is also under attack by the City of Houston Planning Department, which wants to impose the one-mile grid of the mindless major thoroughfare plan on their land. 

 

H-GAC's Transportation Policy Council will hear a request to supply $500,000 to the 36A coalition for planning. They do this stuff little by little like that, the same way they did the Grand Parkway, which is now going to replace about 1,200 square miles of prairie and other ecosystems with sprawl. 

 

The meeting is at 9:30 am on January 24 at 3555 Timmons, west of Edloe off of Richmond. Public comments come first at the meeting, which is open to the public, and you can sign in to speak as you enter. They start on time. 

 

Please consider speaking, certainly consider showing up and filling the room, and please consider whether AIA would take a position on this at this time.

[David Crossley]

Sorry, should have sent the agenda item:

 

ACTION: OTHER .................................................................................................Mr. Alan Clark, H-GAC 

8. Resolution for Approval of a Commitment of $500,000 of STP MM funds for a Planning/ Feasibility Study of State Highway 36 "A" Corridor from the Port of Freeport to SH 6 in Waller County. 

 

Mr. Clark will request approval of a Resolution committing $500,000 of STP MM funds to be matched by an equal amount of funds from local governments along the corridor.

[ig2ba]

Wait, will the Prairie Parkway "wander" across the prairie or "impose" a mile grid plan? The hyperbole seems to contradict itself. And where is this prairie you speak of? Do you mean farmland, because that's what I see between Brookshire and Waller. There's no shame in wanting to protect farmland near cities, which has real value being near people (locally grown food, experiences for kids, pick your own berries, a country feel, etc. etc.), but just be up front about it. It's not without precedent. I think Portland, OR and maybe the major Australian cities have such an emphasis, though I seriously doubt it would work the same here.

A new 4 lane road WILL be built between 290 and I-10, and there's no such road there now. Why not focus efforts on private donations to buy and protect/restore the desired ecosystems, and submit comments so that the road bypasses the protected lands? I think that would be far more productive than trying to stop the inevitable.

[Marcus Allen]

No doubt about it. Houston is a monster gobbling up Southeast TX in her wake. And I love it. We have the Bos-Wash and the San-San, now it seems we are creating another megapolis here in TX.

[cloud713]

Would fulshear/Prarie parkway go up 359 to 290? There is a large 4 lane overpass for 359 over 290 that dead ends on the north side of 290 and I never see anyone use it..?

[David Crossley]

The Waller folks don't want it to be on 359 or 362 because they don't want a lot of traffic on either of those. They see those as local roads. So they basically want a brand new 4-lane highway right between them, in farmland and prairie. Somebody has some land along there they want to develop with houses. I've been told the Waller County folks view sprawl as growing their tax base, but of course houses under a certain property value cost more in services than they deliver in taxes. So there's a lot of mythology and conflict of interest going on here. 

[cloud713]

That's ridiculous.. 359 seems like a perfectly good road to run it down if it's truly this important to re route westward shipping traffic from the port of Freeport.. I hope they change their mind on 359 or don't build the this road at all..

I wonder why they put a decent sized 4 lane overpass across 290 at 359 then, just to dead end on the other side..