GENERAL OVERVIEW

In 2007, during the 80th Texas Legislature, Senate Bill 792 was signed into law giving counties the option to take over development of the Grand Parkway from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). Under the law, a county must begin their segment of the project within a two year period of obtaining environmental impact clearance on their segment or the project reverts back to TxDOT. In September of 2009 Fort Bend County Commissioner's Court signed their order to assume the responsibility of financing, designing, constructing, operating and tolling Segment D of the Grand Parkway. The Grand Parkway Toll Road Authority (GPTRA) was created by the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court as a local government corporation pursuant to the Texas Transportation Code. GPTRA's purpose is to aid, assist, and act on behalf of the County in the performance of its essential government purposes; toll road projects.

The GPTRA, located in Sugar Land, Texas, is underway with this new key mobility project for Fort Bend County; Segment D of the Grand Parkway. Segment D of the Grand Parkway will be the third such effort by the County to provide alternative transportation options for Fort Bend County residents and the greater Houston area in the form of a toll road. Existing roads, the Fort Bend Parkway, ease traffic congestion and stimulate economic development in the eastern part of the county, where as the Fort Bend Westpark Tollway ties directly into Harris County's Westpark Toll Road for quick access to Houston. The Grand Parkway will also relieve traffic congestion and reduce travel time for north / south bound travelers through the County by providing free flowing travel between US 59 and I-10. For Grand Parkway riders that do not want to pay a toll, toll free access on the Grand Parkway's feeder roads will still be an option.

In May of 2011, the GPTRA executed the "Right of Use" agreement with TxDOT allowing the GPTRA to use state highway right-of-way (ROW) and giving the green light to begin construction of the nine (9) new tolled overpasses and eight (8) miles of main-lane development that ultimately create Segment D of the Grand Parkway. Construction of the first two over passes began in August of 2011 with the additional overpasses and main-lanes construction to begin early summer of 2012.