In Missouri City, construction now is under way for raised medians from Dulles Avenue to past the Fort Bend Toll Road and just south of Darby Lane. The Texas Department of Transportation is managing the overall project, which begins at I-10 to fill in the gaps where medians currently do not exist along the Hwy. 6 corridor. During the next three months, work will concentrate from Voss Road in Sugar Land and through Missouri City.
“Our citizens are used to accessing a center lane for turns across three lanes of traffic,” said Project Manager Valerie Marvin. “Raised medians will reduce these conflict points that can occur with turning movements.”
Where space allows, there will be median openings to allow turns, much like other sections of Hwy. 6 in Houston and Sugar Land that currently have raised medians.
During construction, three lanes will continue to be available for motorists both north- and southbound. Marvin also said that traffic control markers, including cones and barrels, will be in place to alert motorists of intermittent turn lane closures at traffic signals.
Project planning began in 2006 with the Houston-Galveston Area Council managing an access management study. It was based on historical mobility patterns and traffic analysis from I-10 to south of the Fort Bend Toll Road. Four public hearings were held to obtain resident feedback, the latest in 2010.
Missouri City’s Traffic Management Plan shows daily traffic counts between Dulles and Lake Olympia to be 23,000 and 27,000 each way, or around 50,000 motorists in 2008. Projections for 2015 are for 53,000 traffic movements in the Riverstone area, around 64,000 near Lake Olympia and nearly 70,000 by Sienna Parkway.
“We have received calls from residents concerned that medians will prevent their making immediate turns across traffic into shopping areas,” Marvin said. “It is true that our traffic patterns will change much like they have in other areas of the Houston region, where raised medians have been in place for years. Where median cuts are not available, residents can safely use traffic signals for turn movements. Based on these changing traffic patterns, the second phase of this project begins later this spring with the addition of turn lanes at major intersections.”
She also suggested residents take advantage of access management already built into this corridor through such streets as Hampton Road which allows rear access to businesses on the northwest side of Hwy. 6 at Murphy Road. Those conducting business on the south side of Hwy. 6 can travel a continuous interior roadway through parking lots north from Murphy Road to Riverstone Boulevard, eliminating the need for travel on Hwy. 6. Intermittent traffic signals on Hwy. 6 that are accessible along this route allow access to businesses on the north side of the highway.
Depending on the width of the raised medians, they will have a concrete surface, a brick looking surface or grass.
Federal matching funds will pay for 80 percent of the median project through Missouri City, with the city contributing $398,000.
I’m just wondering why Missouri City gets all this free money from the state while Sugar Land has to pay for everything themselves in order to do any civic projects. Talk about favoritism….
this project seems worhtwhile and will help missouri city get rid of their crime plague by making it harder for criminals to get down hwy6 to rob people and businesses of their money and dignity. It’s either this construction to stop crime or else missouri city may need to go syrian and issue a permanent state of emergency.
Leave it to local and state government to take a non issue and make it one. This is going to cause traffic to get so much worse. I realize that they are “planning” for the future but this is going to take a road that will be more congested as population grows, and make all the lights much more backed up as everyone has to wait at the light to do their turns. Just look at how traffic is now that the construction is in process. It is only going to get worse.