FM 1488 CORRIDOR
Development along FM 1488 from Magnolia to I-45 has increased in recent years, but the corridor still maintains a mix of uses from commercial to residential to a state forest.
TRAFFIC COUNT WEST OF HONEA EGYPT ROAD
The FM 1488 corridor has seen an increase in traffic, accidents and development, and several road projects are planned for the area in the 2020s.
21,000 2010:
+57.3%
2017: 33,024
11%
48%
Commercial/industrial
Residential
21%
KEY:
Vacant/developable
5%
Institutional
COST
RELATED PROJECTS
1
STATUS
12%
Parks/open spaces
3%
Other
1488
Install raised median on FM 1488 between Mostyn Drive and I-45 expected to begin construction in 2022 $7M
Widen FM 2978 from 2 to 4 lanes north of Conroe-Huffsmith Road
$24M
in construction
2978
45
1488
242
2978
149
a higher than average number of safety issues we can address.”
development to FM in the Spring area and said they were dissatised for reasons ranging from deforestation and overdevelopment to increased com- mute lengths and dangerous drivers. “The travel down [FM] from [FM] takes a long time, and I seem to catch every red light along the way. … I hate to see so much concrete and fewer and fewer trees,” Cimarron Country resident Miesha Boyd said in a Nextdoor comment. Local ocials have also focused on FM as more drivers travel the road. Daniel Zientek, a captain with the Montgomery County Precinct constable’s oce, said the most com- mon violations encountered by patrols on FM north of The Woodlands are speeding violations and trac accidents, frequently caused by dis- tracted driving. He said patrols have also increasingly seen intoxicated driv- ers along the highway.
SOURCE:TEXASDEPARTMENTOFTRANSPORTATION/ COMMUNITY IMPACTNEWSPAPER
N
A CHANGING CORRIDOR Before TxDOT began examining the regional FM corridor, area resi- dents had noted the road’s ongoing transformation into one of the county’s busiest thoroughfares. “We’ve seen it really, really take o in the past four to ve years where a lot of the commercial and retail and restaurants and service businesses have started to move in,” said J.J. Hollie, the president and CEO of The Woodlands Area Chamber of Com- merce. “It’s just reective of the over- all population growth in Montgomery County ... that we’ve seen in the past decade or so.” Along FM and the county over- all, population and commercial devel- opment jumped over the past decade. U.S. Census Bureau estimates for the and ZIP codes, which include most of the highway corri- dor, showed around a , -person increase in each area’s population between - . The variety of storefronts now on FM has also granted residents access to options and amenities that would have previously required travel farther from home, according to several The Woodlands-area residents. However, locals also feel crowding associated with becoming a more commercial- and population-dense area. In comments solicited by Commu- nity Impact Newspaper on the social media site Nextdoor, dozens of The Woodlands- and Magnolia-area resi- dents voiced concerns about FM ’s congestion, safety and image. Sev- eral residents compared the corridor’s
improving the oen-congested trac ow along the highway. “The purpose of this access man- agement study is to identify low-cost, high-impact treatments that reduce crashes and improve mobility with fewer conict points, or areas where vehicles may cross paths, in the corri- dor,” Black said in an email. TxDOT began its research in Janu- ary and expects the analysis will take less than one year to complete, Black said. The study is budgeted at around , and will result in recommen- dations for short-, medium- and long- term improvements to the FM corridor. Short-term improvements could begin as early as scal year once construction funding is identied, Black said. Possible projects could include the addition of dedicated turn lanes, trac signal improvements, and new bicycle and pedestrian accommodations, Black said. At present, two key FM proj- ects—the widening of miles of the highway from four to six lanes and the installation of miles of raised median west of I- —are already in the works. The estimated million widening work is planned from I- to FM but does not yet have an expected start date, Black said. The median project has already received approximately .million inHighway Safety Improve- ment Program funding and is slated for construction in FY . “Safety funds are allocated based on a statewide competition,” Black said. “While obtaining the funds is a good thing, it also means that FM has
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highway also increased % from - . TxDOT has gathered input on the heavily tracked FM from around The Woodlands area. Local residents, business owners and government rep- resentatives have all provided TxDOT with feedback about the highway, and it could see features such as new turn lanes, signals or bike and pedestrian paths as a result of the study. “I think we understand that we’re not going to be able to stop progress, and we’re not going to be able to have any kind of an impact on the growth on [FM] ,” said Maryann Braid, the president of the Alden Bridge Vil- lage Association—a community located south of FM . “I would just hope that as it gets more built up, that there are actions taken to try to increase safety and decrease accidents.” ACCESSMANAGEMENT STUDY According to TxDOT counts between - , average daily trac on FM nearly doubled from , to , vehicles just west of I- and rose from , to , vehicles west of FM . Similarly, annual crashes between I- and Tamina Road rose from to between - , and several portions of the road have out- paced the statewide crash rate in recent years, according to TxDOT data. TxDOT spokesperson Emily Black said the agency is examining FM ’s path from Magnolia through The Woodlands with a focus on safety and
WHAT IS ACCESS MANAGEMENT? Access management seeks to im- prove how vehicles enter roadways to increase safety and efficiency.
Management techniques include:
Access spacing (increasing distance between signals) Driveway spacing (fewer driveways allows for orderly traffic merging)
Safe turning lanes
Addingmedians
Right of waymanagement
Community Impact Newspaper • communityimpact.com SOURCE:U.S.DEPARTMENTOFTRANSPORTATIONFEDERAL HIGHWAYADMINISTRATION/COMMUNITY IMPACTNEWSPAPER
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