City of Magnolia consultant Paul Mendes, who has been working with TxDOT on projects involving the city, including the roadway expansion, said efforts have been halted.

“It appears that TxDOT has shelved it,” Mendes said. “There isn’t any funding for it and it seems it has been put on the backburner indefinitely.”

County Commissioner Craig Doyal has also worked closely with TxDOT officials on the project and said county officials will continue to try to keep the project at the forefront of TxDOT’s agenda.

“They’re going to continue right-of-way acquisition, but as it stands right now there’s no source of funding,” Doyal said. “It’s one of many, many projects currently being shelved for lack of funding.”

The expansion plan has been in the works for several years and with the surge of growth in the outlying areas of Magnolia, the need for a widened roadway is growing.

Doyal cited the large number of vehicles that pass through Magnolia, especially during the months when the Texas Renaissance Festival is in season, as reasons for the expansion.

TxDOT public information officer Karen Othon said funding for the project will not be available for another four to five years.

“I spoke to the design engineer and he said the earliest funding for the project would possibly be our fiscal year 2015, so we’re looking late 2014, early 2015,” Othon said.

She added that the agency’s right-of-way department has been discussing acquiring property from the railroad, but other than that, the project is still on hold.

The price tag for the project is more than $30 million, said Doyal, a cost that would be funded solely by TxDOT.

He added that the county would consider another opportunity for a pass through project or “some source of private funding” were it to become available.

“We’ll keep all options open,” he said.

The nearby construction on FM 1488 is a pass through project, meaning the county is not only funding the project, but also is constructing and doing the design. TxDOT will then be responsible for reimbursing a certain percentage of it.

The halted plan would have widened SH 249 to four lanes, starting in Pinehurst, then up through Magnolia where the roadway becomes FM 1774 and just beyond FM 1488.

“They were going to widen it to cross 1488 at grade, flat, no overpass and then build an overpass over the railroad tracks to tie back into 1774 and have it touch down just east of Magnolia West. The idea was to straighten the intersection, an angled overpass to make that crossing better,” Doyal explained.

TxDOT had already purchased and razed buildings along FM 1774 in downtown Magnolia in preparation for the widening.

“There’s been quite a bit of work done, now only to find out there’s not funding for the project,” said Doyal. “We’ll try to keep it at the front burner as much as possible.”

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