PEARLAND, TX The Brazoria County Expressway will be the first toll road for the Brazoria County Toll Road Authority (BCTRA). The $97 million expressway is part of a large initiative to help relieve traffic and congestion along the SH 288 corridor. 

Construction of the expressway is set to begin immediately, with a completion date of July 2019. The scope of work includes a five-mile, four-lane (2+2) toll road down the median of SH 288 within Brazoria County. The five mile stretch will extend from the Brazoria/Harris County line to just south of County Road 58 in Brazoria County. As construction begins, the existing 288 lanes will remain open with an occasional short scheduled closure or delay. 

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), through a private developer, is constructing the toll lanes in Harris County extending the much needed improvements up to the Texas Medical Center. Included in the Expressway project, using federal and TxDOT funding, is the reconstruction of the FM 518 intersection that includes new main lane bridges on SH 288, widening of FM 518 from Smith Ranch Road to Business Center Drive, and widening and relocation of the access ramps. The city of Pearland, Texas, is funding aesthetic improvements to the corridor within the limits of their newly created management district for the area.