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Fulshear EDC approves $50,000 feasibility study to test underpass option for Westpark Toll Road
Summary
The City of Fulshear Development Corporation approved funding to pay the full cost—about $50,000—of an engineering feasibility study to determine whether the Westpark Toll Road can be routed below grade through downtown via an underpass rather than an elevated structure.
The City of Fulshear Development Corporation voted to fund a feasibility study to test whether the Westpark Toll Road can pass under State Highway 1093 through the downtown area, approving payment of the approximately $50,000 proposal and directing staff to forward a resolution to city council for its required findings and approval.
The vote follows a presentation by Gary Shaws, Fulshear’s public works director, who outlined concerns about an elevated toll-road structure bisecting downtown and presented an underpass and roundabout-based alternative designed to preserve north–south connectivity, reduce noise, and support multimodal access. The board approved paying the full study cost and agreed to forward a resolution to the city council so the expenditure can be authorized under the corporation’s statutory project authority.
Shaws said the study would test the core technical questions: whether sufficient vertical clearance can be achieved, whether roadway grades and vertical curves can meet design standards, and how drainage would be handled (gravity drainage versus pump systems). He said Gannett Fleming proposed to do the study for just under $50,000 and that the board would use the study to determine whether to pursue a depressed alignment that could include roundabouts and pedestrian-friendly design rather than an elevated roadway.
Board members asked whether the $50,000 covers the entire study (Shaws: yes), how long the study would take (Shaws: three to six months), whether Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority had already reviewed the idea (county-level staff gave a high-level negative reaction), and whether drainage impacts would be assessed (Shaws: the study will determine whether the underpass can be drained by gravity or would require pumps). Several board members said the concept has arisen repeatedly through past planning efforts and that residents oppose an overpass that would function like a wall through downtown.
Legal counsel reminded the board that, because the proposed expenditure was not in a previously approved project list, the board must find that the study “promotes or develops new or expanded business enterprises” before the city council can approve it under the Type A corporation statute. Counsel said the council must approve the expenditure amount as an expenditure, and that the board would return to council with a resolution containing the required findings and an effective-date authorization.
Motion and outcome: A board member moved that the corporation approve 100% of the estimated cost (approximately $50,000) for the feasibility study and forward a resolution to city council seeking approval of the project; a second was heard; the board voted in favor and the motion passed.
The study is intended as a technical feasibility step only. If it finds an underpass physically possible, subsequent design, cost estimates, and negotiations with the Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority and TxDOT would follow. Shaws and board members repeatedly emphasized that the study’s immediate purpose is to answer the binary question of whether the underpass is technically feasible, and to identify any caveats or constraints (drainage, vertical clearance, creek crossings and connectivity to Wallace Street and Main Street) that would affect design and cost.
