Storey to lead local Grand Parkway effort

But may cede control to TxDOT

Steve Hawley, May 21, 09.

Art Storey, head of the Harris County Public Infrastructure Department, has been tasked by seven county judges with designing a plan to build and pay for the Grand Parkway, according to FortBendNow.com. The seven counties included in the Grand Parkway are Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, and Montgomery.

Storey recently called the Grand Parkway a “200-mile road to nowhere,” only a fraction of which is in Harris County. He was speaking at an Urban Land Institute event called “Infrastructure 2009: Pivot Point: Opportunities and Threats to Future Growth,” based on a new Ernst & Young report with that name. The report called for national and metropolitan strategies with goals essentially opposite to those underlying the Grand Parkway. The report touts “compact, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods tied into transit networks connecting to commercial hubs,” in contrast to the “spread-out suburbs” envisioned to be enabled by the Parkway.

According to FortBendNow, Fort Bend Judge Bob Hebert said that the Grand Parkway could cost $1.3 billion. However, other estimates have projected a total cost of $5 billion. While the counties want to maintain control of the project locally, Hebert said that the odds of doing so are only 50-50 at best.

The article notes, “The timing of construction of those segments, and the method of tolling, has stirred controversy, especially among neighborhoods near the proposed Segment C, which would run from U.S. 59 south to State Highway 288.”

The Texas Department of Transportation has tentatively allocated $181 million in stimulus funds to Segment E of the Grand Parkway, and the Harris County Commissioners Court approved $22 million in contracts during March.