Community Impact reports on June 24th in commissioners’ court, the potential for over $40 million in planned projects for the county as part of congestion mitigation and air quality, or CMAQ, grants from the Federal Transit Administration was outlined by the Deputy Chief of Staff for Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough’s office, Jason Smith.
The grants are through the Houston-Galveston Area Council to commissioners. H-GAC distributes the federally funded grants for projects to address congestion and increase overall air quality.
The potential federally funded projects include:
–$9.5 million for Hardin Store Road reconstruction.
–$14.25 million for Dobbin-Huffsmith Road reconstruction.
–$5 million for fiber interconnections for traffic signals.
–$11.72 million for an intelligent transportation system.
The fiber interconnections to traffic signals, according to Smith, would allow the county to track road traffic and eventually create a system similar to Houston TranStar for Montgomery County.
Smith said, “The end goal on that is to be able to put up a map very, very similar to TranStar, so that everybody in Montgomery County can see real-time traffic data on the streets.”
Because of improving air quality through minimizing wait times at traffic lights and reducing emissions, Smith said the projects qualify for the CMAQ grants.
For 2025, according to Smith, Montgomery County was the only county to submit requests for the grant funds. If the traffic signal project grants are approved, the county would then ask for interlocal agreements with any cities in the county that pay for their own traffic signals to get permission for installing upgrades to light poles.
Opening up soon, will be a call for projects by the H-GAC for new transportation alternatives, and Smith passed along that the county will bring in local school districts for potential projects which could improve local connectivity and mobility at schools.
