Houston City Councilman Martin Shares Information On City's Capital Improvement Plan

KINGWOOD, TX -- Houston City Councilman Dave Martin shared valuable information about the City Of Houston’s Capital Improvement Plan, and how those plans will ultimately impact the Kingwood community, during a recent townhall meeting.

In Kingwood, much of the concerns center around the plans to upgrade Kingwood Drive, long regarded as one of the three worst roads in the city, based on congestion and infrastructure.(For news updates on this story and other news in Humble-Kingwood, just click here to get Patch's daily newsletter and free, real-time news alerts).

The project on Kingwood Drive, which has been on in the city’s radar since 2011, would involve widening an already existing four-lane boulevard, to a six lanes, which would not only help ease the congestion, but allow city crews to upgrade infrastructure that is nearing 40 years old.

While the need for upgrading is evident to both the city and Kingwood residents, the possibility of widening is often argued and pushed back each year over the likelihood that Kingwood would lose a great number of the community’s trademark trees.

“As a resident of almost 30 years, I always knew that Kingwood Drive, moving from four lanes to six lanes, was a contentious issue,” Martin said. “Everywhere I went people either loved it or hated it.”

Martin said after Sylvester Turner was elected Mayor of Houston in 2015, he became a bug in the mayor’s ear when it came to road projects and the CIP.

Turner, who spoke at the townhall meeting, remembers it well.

“He didn’t exaggerate. He did contact me several times,” Turner recalled.

The financial allocation to upgrade Kingwood Drive is projected at $18 million and would would have to be done by 2022, that money could be lost and reallocated to another city project, which mean the upgrades could possibly never be started.

The physical improvements to Kingwood Drive are not likely to begin until 2020, but some areas are already being improved, particularly in the way of infrastructure, sidewalk improvements and wastewater treatment.

Martin, who has served on the council since 2013, is from Kingwood, and began hosting semi-annual townhall meetings in Kingwood and Clear Lake when he was elected to office, enlisted the help of Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone-10 to launch the Kingwood Mobility Study in 2014 and 2015.

Through the study, Martin and the TIRZ leadership arrived at generating the funding through partnerships with the Texas Department of Transportation, Montgomery County, Harris County, Union Pacific Railroad and other entities, to improve North Park Drive first.

Although Northpark Drive was not listed on Houstons CIP because portions of the roadway are outside the city’s jurisdiction, portions of the road are as bad as Kingwood Drive, and warranted attention.

As a result, Martin and the TIRZ began working to obtain funding for Northpark Drive, as a way of letting Kingwood residents see the potential improvement first hand.

It doesn’t necessarily mean that the way (something) has been done is always the best way to continue to do it,” Turner said. “I think people are interested in results. That’s what they want,and quite frankly government can exercise just good common sense. That’s what we’re doing.”

To learn more about proposed projects in Kingwood, visit ReBuild Houston.

Images: U.S. Dept of Labor

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