UPDATE: South Panther Creek lane expansions complete on schedule

UPDATE:

The expansion lanes on South Panther Creek, a right turn lane when turning south on Flintridge (when heading east), and a center turn lane (when heading west), were open to traffic on August 4, as planned by project manager, Matt Beasley.

The additional lanes will eliminate the congestion of traffic moving south onto Flintridge.

ORIGINAL STORY:

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- Road warriors who use Flintridge to connect to either Gosling or Kuykendahl, will soon have a solution to ease the pain when negotiating the south turn. South Panther Creek is undergoing a road widening at the Flintridge intersection. The high traffic volume has necessitated adding turn lanes when heading both east and west on South Panther Creek, and trying to turn south on to Flintridge.

As long ago as 2008, Panther Creek residents complained of the bottleneck when westbound traffic tried to navigate a left turn onto Flintridge. The traffic turning right onto South Panther Creek from Flintridge, was also backed up to the traffic light at Flintridge and Gosling, due to the absence of a right-turn lane.

The issue was presented to the Panther Creek Village Association at that time, and the newly-elected Woodlands Community Association Director for Panther Creek, Rich Jackovac, took the traffic issue to a mobility committee in The Woodlands. Within weeks a right-turn lane was created and paved for northbound traffic on Flintridge, and an asphalt passing lane was created at the intersection for westbound South Panther Creek traffic.

“Unfortunately, the asphalt was just a bandaid,” said Project Manager, Matt Beasley, of the Montgomery County Precinct 3 County Road Commissioner’s Office.

As the traffic volume increased, the asphalt continued to break down, and had to be repaired numerous times over the past six years. The situation is being rectified with a concrete-paved right lane, which will create a center turning lane for westbound South Panther Creek traffic trying to negotiate a left turn to head south on Flintridge.

“We have numerous projects that are Montgomery County road projects being overseen by the Precinct 3 Commissioner’s Office,” said Beasley. “We made this project on South Panther Creek the highest priority. It will be finished before school starts. It’s targeted for completion by August 4th.”

The estimated completion date is approximately three weeks from the start of the project. Record time for road construction in The Woodlands. This project and numerous others in South Montgomery County are being undertaken by the Precinct 3 County Road Commissioner’s Office, not the Texas Department of Transportation.

“You can check the project tracker on our website for the status of any of the projects the County Road Commission’s office has undertaken. You’ll see that most of them are completed.” added Beasley. “It’s our intention to have all of them finished before school starts.”

The Precinct 3 County Road Commissioner’s Project Tracker can be accessed at the link provided. For additional information, residents can call the Commissioner’s office at 281-367-3977.