Local business owners, community leaders and government officials gathered March 4 for a ceremony to mark the official grand opening of the recently expanded FM 1488 along a four-mile stretch from Texas 242 to FM 2978.

At left, Pct. 2 Commissioner Craig Doyal and Pct. 3 Commissioner Ed Chance listen to TxDOT Houston District Engineer Delvin Dennis as he addresses the crowd during a ceremony marking the opening of the recently expanded FM 1488. Photo by Justin Elbert.

Although major construction on the project was completed in October, the expanded stretch of road was recently accepted into the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) maintenance program last week.

This is the first “pass-through” funded construction project in the state to be accepted into the program.

The pass-through program allows local governments to pay for road construction projects up front and then be reimbursed from the state at a later time based on traffic counts. Montgomery County officials expect to receive their first reimbursement check from the state in about 14 months.

“It was different for us to turn over the keys to someone else and watch them oversee the project,” Delvin Dennis, an engineer with the TxDOT Houston District told the crowd.

“We had run out of money to complete construction projects like this one,” he said. “This project will serve as a model for future pass-through funded projects.”

During the ceremony, Pct. 2 Commissioner Craig Doyal told the crowd he was “pleased” with the project.

“This has been a very exciting project,” he said. “It’s very exciting to see this come to fruition. Traffic flow is already much better now.”

He added that the FM 1488 expansion project in Montgomery County “has proven to be a success and has become a model for other counties.”

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