Fulshear eagerly awaits Westpark Tollway extension

Fulshear residents see traffic relief on the horizon as a proposed extension of the Westpark Tollway goes through an environmental review, and a second extensino project that would pass through the town nears its public comment period.

It will be nearly a year before construction begins on the first phase, but the road project nonetheless is the talk of the town.

"The closer we get to taking it off the ground, the more excited everyone gets," said C.J. Snipes, city administrator of Fulshear. "We know folks get frustrated. They don't mind commuting, but they don't want to sit in traffic as they get from point A to point B."

The first two phases of the project are designed to alleviate heavy traffic along FM 1093, which the tollway turns into after its western terminus. Traffic on the east-west highway has swollen as the rural area west of Houston has developed. Fulshear, located about 40 miles west-southwest of Houston, has expanded beyond a country town of 400 people, as it was in 2000, to a booming suburb of about 5,000 residents.

The first phase would extend the four-lane controlled-access tollway westward from its current endpoint, at Grand Parkway, to the FM 723/Spring Green intersection of FM 1093. Current plans also call for widening FM 1093 west to FM 1463, east of the Cross Creek community, but without tolls.

The proposal received public comment in August and now is undergoing a final environmental review.

After receiving additional right-of-way donations, the Fort Bend County and state project officials say they have made minor revisions to the design that saved at least $4 million.

Two years ago, the two-phase project was estimated to cost $126 million. It is a joint venture between TxDOT and the county that will be funded by the state and the Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority. County officials said Thursday they are preparing an updated cost estimate.

If the process stays on schedule, the project could go out for bid in May 2015 and construction would begin that August.

The second phase would widen FM 1093 farther west, as it passes through Fulshear out to James Lane, but this stretch would not become a tollway, project officials said.

"It will add significantly more traffic capacity and hopefully increase speeds," Snipes said.

Snipes said a public review meeting on that portion of the project has been set for 6:30 p.m. Dec. 9 at the Irene Stern Center.

If approved and it passes environmental review, the second phase could begin construction starting in 2016.

For the original article, click here.