HOUSTON, TX The Texas Transportation Commission recently awarded two construction contracts to improve safety, mobility and connectivity along the U.S. 290 corridor. Projects B and C-2 will bring congestion relief in the Cypress area and far northwest Harris County. Proposition 1 funding was allocated to Project B allowing the start of construction to be accelerated by as much as one year.

Project C-2 is a 3-mile project to widen US 290 from two to three mainlanes from Mason Road to Bauer Road. The $37 million contract was awarded to Williams Brothers Construction Co., Inc. Construction will begin in September and is anticipated to be complete late 2017.

Project B is a 3-mile project to widen US 290 from two to three mainlanes from Bauer Road to Badtke Road. Williams Brothers Construction Co., Inc. was awarded the $33 million contract. Construction began last month and is anticipated to be complete late 2017.

U.S. 290 construction is currently underway on ten segments from I-610 to Mason Road. The last remaining segment on the U.S. 290 Program is Project A, from Badtke Road to FM 2920 at the Harris/Waller County Line. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) took construction bids last month on Project A using Proposition 1 funding.

Proposition 1, which dedicates a portion of oil and gas tax revenue to the state highway fund, was approved last November by 80 percent of Texas voters. The 200 planned Proposition 1 projects will result in more than 800 miles of rehabilitated highways; nearly 500 miles of new highway lanes; 114 bridges replaced, widened or rehabilitated; and an additional 159 miles of passing lanes on rural highways. Metropolitan Planning Organizations and TxDOT districts worked together and with the public to formulate the list of projects