District and state transportation officials told the Waller County Commissioners Court on Feb. 18 that work to study a new State Highway 36A corridor is moving into formal environmental review and public scoping, and that the project will be handled as two independent segments.

The Texas Department of Transportation presentation said the corridor — studied as a possible new limited‑access, four‑lane facility — is intended to add north–south capacity, improve hurricane‑evacuation options and relieve congestion anticipated with regional growth. TxDOT representatives said the north and south segments meet at I‑10 and will each follow the federal Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process required for federally funded new‑location highways.

Why this matters: Commissioners emphasized that Waller County is in a rapid growth corridor and said they want early community involvement and right‑of‑way protections so homes are not built over future alignments. County leaders and TxDOT officials repeatedly framed the work as regional — not solely county — infrastructure planning with potential multi‑billion‑dollar construction costs.

TxDOT officials said the study has been split into two independent projects so one segment does not depend on the other. Sue Tice, Advanced Project Development Director for TxDOT’s Houston District, described the NEPA milestones the public should expect: notice of intent, scoping meetings where preliminary alternatives are shown, a draft EIS and public hearing, a final EIS, then a decision on the preferred alignment. "Everything that the Houston District does is prepared in English and Spanish," Tice said when discussing outreach.

Timing and cost estimates: TxDOT presented a tentative schedule that places initial scoping and notice of intent for 36A South in spring 2025, with reasonable alternatives presented in 2026, a draft EIS in 2027, and a final EIS and record of decision by 2028. For 36A North TxDOT showed scoping and public meetings beginning in early 2026, with a similar multi‑year EIS schedule after that. Officials emphasized these are programmatic estimates and depend on funding. The presentation included a high‑level, placeholder estimate of an approximate letting date in 2037 for both segments and estimated 2025 construction costs of roughly $2.0 billion for 36A North and $2.5 billion for 36A South; TxDOT cautioned those figures will change as design and funding are refined.

Public engagement and right‑of‑way: TxDOT said public engagement will include in‑person meetings, online videos, mailings and material in both English and Spanish. Tice said postcards and notices will be targeted to communities in the study corridors and that the project website will carry updates. Officials also encouraged early coordination with developers to reserve corridors before homes are built, explaining a right‑of‑way reservation can reduce future acquisition costs and limit the need to demolish later‑constructed buildings.

County concerns and regional context: Commissioners and the county judge pressed TxDOT on timing, expressing concern that rapid housing development in the county could place heavy traffic loads on existing farm‑to‑market roads long before the new corridors are built. The county judge urged broad public engagement so residents and developers understand alignments in advance. TxDOT and the state transportation commissioner urged community consensus, noting that projects with local support move faster through funding and implementation processes. As Transportation Commissioner Ives said, "When there's consensus in a community about a project, that project moves a lot faster." The commissioner further encouraged county leaders to adopt and share major thoroughfare plans with TxDOT to help protect future corridors.

Next steps: TxDOT said it will publish a notice of intent and schedule scoping (public) meetings for the segments on the project website, and that initial outreach would begin in 2025–26. Officials offered to meet with county stakeholders and developer groups before the formal NEPA meetings to explain the process and to discuss early corridor reservations and staging of the two segments.