City ready to move forward on Clay Road-Katy Hockley Cutoff Road intersection expansion

By George Slaughter, News Editor
Posted 7/7/22

A Katy city official said Tuesday that the city is ready to move forward on expanding the Clay Road-Katy Hockley Cutoff Road intersection, which is becoming a traffic bottleneck as new development moves into that area.

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City ready to move forward on Clay Road-Katy Hockley Cutoff Road intersection expansion

Posted

A Katy city official said Tuesday that the city is ready to move forward on expanding the Clay Road-Katy Hockley Cutoff Road intersection, which is becoming a traffic bottleneck as new development moves into that area.

“The city council has approved funding,” Council Member-at-Large and Mayor Pro Tem Chris Harris said. “We are waiting for Harris County to approve their portion of the road. They own three-fourths of the intersection. It is a Harris County project. But from a City of Katy point of view, we told Harris County we have the money.”

In a presentation given by county officials at a recent infrastructure summit hosted by the Katy Area Chamber of Commerce, the project is in design status.

Harris said the city would pay for the lead up lanes on the south side of the intersection, heading north. He said the other three portions of that road were the county’s responsibility.

Harris said the work would take about a year to complete.

“That’s the timeline they indicated to us,” Harris said. “They would do the design, and then it would take about a year to actually complete it.”

The intersection sits next to one of the newest subdivision developments in Katy. Pulte Homes is developing Katy Court, a subdivision that will be situated south of Clay Road and west of Katy Hockley Cutoff Road. The 1,039-acre Sunterra neighborhood, being developed by Land Tejas, will add more homes in the Clay-Pitts road area and more traffic to Clay Road.

The new development falls just inside the Katy city limits and is east of Bill and Cindy Haskett Junior High School, which was officially dedicated in February. Harris said a new elementary school will eventually be built next to that school.

The city’s planning and zoning commission plans to meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, and is expected to hear public concerns about the situation.

Harris said he has been hearing from citizens already.

“I’ve been getting a lot of calls from citizens about the intersection,” Harris said, adding that he, Mayor Dusty Thiele, and other council members have spoken with county officials about the project. He praised county officials for being willing to listen to the city’s concerns.

“I think there’s an opportunity to prioritize some of the roads,” Harris said. “It’s been a good partnership, but we do encourage the commissioners court to improve those roads. Where funded and ready to go. There’s no hold up on our end.”

In the meanwhile, Harris said, developers have been asked to slow their projects as they can so the road can be fixed and be less of a headache.

“We want to get the project moving,” Harris said. “It’s a long time coming. There’s a lot of development in the unincorporated part north of the City of Katy, and the traffic is also affecting our residents.”

Clay Road, Katy Hockley Cutoff Road, Harris County, City of Katy, road construction