TxDOT outlines design-build schedule, costs and community impacts for Grand Parkway Segment B1 in League City

TxDOT representatives updated League City residents Tuesday evening on Segment B1 of the Grand Parkway (State Highway 99), describing the project’s scope, procurement timeline, construction impacts and community outreach as work moves from design toward construction.

City Manager John Baumgartner opened the meeting and introduced TxDOT staff and city officials. Kenneth Shirley, TxDOT construction manager/engineer for the project, led the presentation and described Segment B1 as a roughly 14‑mile, four‑lane tollway between League City and Alvin with multiple direct connectors at Interstate 45 and U.S. 35. Shirley said the contract cost is estimated at about $1.96 billion and that “that’s toll” funding for most of the work, though he also identified a separate state‑funded piece included in the contract.

Why it matters: The project will build new tolled main lanes down the middle of the corridor, replace or rebuild portions of existing FM 35, and add several interchanges and direct connectors that TxDOT says are intended to improve mobility and support economic growth. Residents at the town hall pressed TxDOT on noise walls, property impacts, traffic control at tie‑in points and the project’s timeline.

Project scope and funding TxDOT said Segment B1 will include four toll lanes (two each direction), “discontinuous” frontage configurations rather than continuous frontage roads, multiple mainline toll plazas across the greenfield portion, and direct connector bridges at 45 and 35. Shirley described a toll‑funded financing model for the corridor: “That’s toll. That’s toll revenue,” he said, to explain that toll collections — not local property tax dollars — will pay most of the work.

Shirley gave a cost estimate of about $1.96 billion for the design‑build contract and described the procurement as an a+b qualification‑plus‑price selection. He said TxDOT shortlisted three proposers and planned a conditional award in April, with contract…