According to a statement from the office of Fort Bend County Commissioner Andy Meyers, organizers of the long-awaited Texas Heritage Parkway hosted a ribbon cutting event for the new roadway Friday, Aug. 20. The roadway remained closed until the following day when some final checklist items and inspections were completed.

“I'm very pleased that this roadway will now serve thousands of our residents in North Fort Bend County as another north-south corridor for our growing community,” Meyers said.

The roadway connects I-10 and FM 1093 from just west of Cross Creek Ranch going north to Pederson Road just west of Katy on I-10. The 6.4-mile parkway overlaps the cities of Katy and Fulshear and lies in Fort Bend and Waller Counties. The portion of the road in Fort Bend is complete, but work expanding the two-lane roadway to a four-lane parkway in Waller County will continue through the rest of the year, Meyers said.

“There will be delays at I-10 until that expansion is complete, and I'm told that Waller County will be working on that over the next 3-4 months. We are proud of the hard work put into the Fort Bend County portion of the expansion and as soon as the remainder of the expansion project is completed by Waller County - we will make the announcement on our (Facebook) page,” Meyers’ office said.

Texas Heritage Parkway features more than half a dozen traffic circles which Fort Bend County officials say should help prevent fatal accidents. Roundabouts, they said, still see accidents but those accidents are not as lethal according to studies.

The inspections and last-minute touch-ups were expected to have the road open late in the afternoon on Friday; however, the parkway did not open fully until about 5:45 p.m. Saturday, Meyers said. He and his staff had followed up with TXDoT throughout the finalization process, he said, and he expressed frustration with contractors that had failed to meet deadlines. Still, he said he was happy with the project’s final result other than the time, especially since it was a project that was distinctive.

Meyers said the parkway is a unique project with many agencies, private companies and government bodies pitching in. According to previous reports, developers of nearby subdivisions, cities, counties and the state as well as various private companies have all contributed to the project financially, through the donation of land or via expertise and construction efforts.

“It's very rare to see so many people come together to successfully launch such a large mobility project, and the THP would not be opening today if not for the cooperation and partnerships that led to this day,” Meyers said.

Editor's note: Texas Heritage Parkway opened Saturday after several last-minute items were fixed and inspected. Details regarding fixes and the final product have been appended above.