Conroe - Montgomery Edition | February 2023

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YEARLY CRASH COUNTS Crash data from the Texas Department of Transportation shows the number of crashes on Hwy. 105 has increased since 2017.

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TxDOT also has a project on Hwy. 105 east of I-45 from 10th Street to South Loop 336. According to a Feb. 1 update from TxDOT, the $51.8 million project is slated to start in March and consists of reconstructing lanes and widen- ing the road to four lanes. A similar $88.92 million project is also planned to begin in March between South As the Hwy. 105 construction drags on, Huss said businesses have expressed frustration. She said a major part of the project to increase safety is reducing the amount of left-hand turns by implementing a raised median. However, entities that require customers to cross the road and turn left for access are suffering. “It’s really hard to put together a big project, especially things that disrupt people’s lives because you are under pressure to get it done as quickly as possible, but do a great job [while] spending people’s money wisely,” Huss said. Loop 336 and FM 1484. Challenging businesses Barbara Johnson, owner of R & B Window Fashions in Montgomery off Hwy. 105 said in an interview she does not understand the purpose of adding a raised median. Johnson said the business has received calls from clients unable to turn into the store- front, and she does not believe a solu- tion to traffic is cutting off businesses on the left side. Cvanna Bowman, a sales associate with Sweet Texas Treasures Boutique off Hwy. 105, said she, too, has had trouble with business since Hwy. 105 construction began. Bowman said the construction has hurt the business because the construction requires customers to make a U-turn into the business’s parking lot. “[Customers] having to turn around and not knowing the highway, they have been passing us up a lot and they just choose not to come in because the traffic is so crazy,” Bowman said in an interview. As such, Reid said business owners along Hwy. 105 have expressed anec- dotally that TxDOT has not kept them in mind while engineering the project. “Our businesses feel handicapped that they can’t make an impact,” Reid said. “In a collective voice we are say- ing [to TxDOT] you can’t railroad all of our businesses into the ground; this isn’t going to work.”

Vehicle damage only

Injuries

Fatalities

Unknown

275

2017 total crashes:

186

302

2018 total crashes:

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189

109

309

2019 total crashes:

115

190

248

2020 total crashes:

160

280

2021 total crashes:

184

350

2022 total crashes*:

*AS OF DEC. 12

251

SOURCE: TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION/COMMUNITY IMPACT

medians from FM 2854 to South Pine Lake Road and from McCaleb Road to Old Hwy. 105. Projects to still be completed along the corridor include additional raised medians that will lead from FM 2854 to I-45, widening right-turn lanes and restriping the project lim- its once complete. The project has faced a series of setbacks and delays due to material shipment delays, Black said. Spe- cifically, a shortage of cement and design changes made by the city of Montgomery have contributed to the delays. According to McCorquodale, the city and Montgomery Economic Development Corp. requested TxDOT add pavers to the medians, believing pavers might be more readily avail- able than concrete and would mean faster completion of the project. McCorquodale said the city was informed TxDOT approved the request and was working on the change at no cost to the city. The request did not alter the layout or number of median segments; it only

changed the material TxDOT used to fill the medians with. However, Black said the price is expected to increase to account for the pavers. TxDOT began installing the pavers Feb. 10, she said. There are other TxDOT projects planned to the west on Hwy. 105 that Montgomery officials believe will also benefit the city and its future growth. From Mount Mariah Road to FM 149, TxDOT plans to improve traf- fic flow along Hwy. 105 and reduce the number of traffic accidents by widening the existing two-lane road- way to four divided lanes and adding an access road, a turnaround and a shared-use pathway. “We have been working on that project [located at FM 149] I want to say for eight years from the point of when we first started looking at land acquisition,” Huss said. Construction is slated to begin in summer 2025 with a two-and-a-half- year timeline, according to previous Community Impact reporting. The project is estimated to cost approxi- mately $120.5 million.

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Jerry Coker 713-224-3426 ¡Hablamos Español! Limitations apply. See geico.com for more details. GEICO & affiliates. 20076. GEICO Gecko image © 1999-2022. © 2022 GEICO. 21_63331212 Limitations apply. See geico.com for more details. DC 20076. GEICO Gecko image © 1999-2022. Jerry Coker 713-224-3426 ¡Hablamos Español! apply. See geico.com for more details. GEICO & affiliates. Washington 20076. GEICO Gecko image © 1999-2022. © 2022 GEICO. 21_633312129 Jerry Coker 713-224-3426 ¡Hablamos Español! See geico.com for more details. GEICO & affiliates. GEICO Gecko image © 1999-2022. © 2022 GEICO. Jerry Coker 713-224-3426 ¡Hablamos Español! apply. See geico.com for more details. GEICO & GEICO Gecko image © 1999-2022. © 2022 GEICO. Limitations apply. See geico.com for more details. GEICO & affiliates. Washington, DC 20076. GEICO Gecko image 1999- 2022. 2022 GEICO. 21_633312129 more details. GEICO & affiliates. Washington, 1999-2022. © 2022 GEICO. 21_633312129 more details. GEICO & affiliates. Washington, 1999-2022. © 2022 GEICO. 21_633312129

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CONROE - MONTGOMERY EDITION • FEBRUARY 2023