Mobility funding skyrockets thanks to cooperative effort. (federal highway funds, Texas) (Southwest Houston/Fort Bend County Economic Development Report)

Various projects will relieve congestion, ease access

By all appearances, more stringent standards for approving federal highway funds has been a boom to the county committee courting mobility projects in Fort Bend County. In the last year alone, federal funding approved for coveted county highway projects has increased by 1,200 percent.

The Houston-Galveston Area Council, which approves all state and federal monies for area transportation projects, has funded a high percentage of projects presented by Fort Bend County. Observers credit the high approval rating to the Fort Bend Mobility Committee. The committee demonstrates a willingness of various officials to present a unified front in the county's annual Transportation Improvement Plan and to complete the front-end study necessary to present workable projects ready for bid.

Formation of the Fort Bend Mobility Committee came out of a lack of funding for an obviously congested Southwest Freeway two years ago, says committee member John Young. Today the organization of county-wide officials, engineers and developers is likely to have more long-ranging impacts as local agencies struggle to meet the more-stringent …