On December 4, stakeholders from across Greater West Houston gathered for a focused conversation on the future of mobility along the US290 and Hempstead Road corridor. Hosted by the West
Houston Association’s Regional Mobility Committee and moderated by Jim Webb, CEO of The Goodman Corporation and chair of the committee, the forum brought together leaders from Harris County Precincts 3 and 4 and the Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) to discuss how this rapidly growing corridor can move people, freight, and stormwater more safely and efficiently in the decades ahead.
Panelists included Roberto Treviño, Executive Director of HCTRA, Eric Heppen, Director of Engineering for Harris County Precinct 3; and Luis Guajardo, Director of Planning and Community Development for Harris County Precinct 4. Together, they outlined a vision that pairs major capital investments with local connectivity, drainage improvements, and long-term partnerships across jurisdictions.
Why Hempstead, and Why Now?
Treviño framed HCTRA’s interest in the Hempstead corridor as both an obligation and an opportunity. The original environmental process for the US 290 expansion contemplated managed lanes on Hempstead as part of the overall project, and that federal commitment remains in place.
“There was always a toll road that was planned as part of the 290 construction for managed lanes on the Hempstead corridor,” he noted. That environmental clearance, combined with existing right-of-way, makes Hempstead one of the few remaining corridors where a new facility is both technically and financially feasible.
As HCTRA reviewed where it could invest over the next twenty years, Hempstead “just constantly started coming up as a logical opportunity for a toll road,” Treviño explained. The corridor connects fast-growing Waller County and northwest Harris County to the 610 Loop, with significant freight activity layered on top of daily commuter traffic. The long-term vision, he said, is a facility that ultimately ties into I-10 and potentially managed lanes through the heart of Houston, relieving pressure on 290 while supporting regional freight and commuter movements.
Crucially, Treviño emphasized that Hempstead can be structured to pay for itself. A forthcoming toll-revenue study and program management effort will define costs, phasing and confirm that it can be delivered without drawing down other mobility funds or impacting HCTRA’s strong credit rating.
Precinct 3: Responding to Growth on the Ground
For Precinct 3, the pressure is already visible in day-to-day operations. Heppen shared that “almost half of our traffic complaints to date right now are along our portion of the 290 corridor.” While regional maps often highlight the freeway itself, the strain is felt most acutely on the major thoroughfares and collectors that feed it.
Barker Cypress and Fry Road are prime examples. Each carries tens of thousands of vehicles per day outside of 290, with congestion that extends well beyond typical peak hours. Precinct 3 is advancing a package of projects to keep those corridors functioning, including added lanes and access-management strategies on Barker Cypress, improvements along Greenhouse Road, and a new underpass connection to relieve pressure on Fry and Barker Cypress.
“There is so much of a traffic need out there that we could spend all of our mobility dollars along 290 and it still wouldn’t be enough,” Heppen said. The precinct’s challenge is to balance those urgent needs with responsibilities across the rest of Harris County. That reality makes partnership indispensable: recent projects have relied on combinations of MUDs, emergency service districts, school districts, TxDOT, and other entities to pool resources and move projects forward.
Heppen also underscored that, after redistricting, major corridors like Hempstead are increasingly viewed as countywide assets rather than the concern of a single precinct. “As much as it can be a Precinct 3 or Precinct 4 initiative, it’s about greater Harris County,” he noted.
Precinct 4: Building a Smarter Network
Guajardo described Precinct 4’s connection to the corridor as “two-headed,” with responsibilities both near the urban core and at the outer edges near the Grand Parkway and beyond. On the outer portion, the precinct is working with partners like Waller County and local school districts on projects to serve new campuses and close critical gaps between neighborhoods, 290, and SH 99. 
Rather than replicating a single template of one-mile arterials and large-lot development, Precinct 4 is using the county’s emerging transportation plan to explore a more nuanced street network. “We’re also thinking very thoughtfully about what the right network of streets is out there,” Guajardo said, pointing to greater use of collectors and a more connected grid that can support growth without over-reliance on a handful of oversized thoroughfares.
On the inner portion of the corridor, Precinct 4 is pairing targeted intersection and signal upgrades with investments in multimodal connectivity. An example closer to the City of Houston is the Spring Branch Trail, which will ultimately connect from Addicks Reservoir toward White Oak Bayou, creating an off-street bikeway that links suburban neighborhoods to the urban core.
The throughline, Guajardo emphasized, is multidisciplinary thinking. A corridor like Hempstead “requires multidisciplinary processes in place to bring in the right experts at the right time,” from capital planning and community engagement to geospatial analysis and design.
Designing for Mobility, Access, and Quality of Life
The panel devoted considerable attention to what the Hempstead project should feel like for adjacent communities. Treviño pointed to HCTRA’s Downtown Connector project as a model for elevating expectations. There, success depended on “raising the bar a little bit to not just be about mobility.” By amenitizing detention ponds, connecting local street networks, and working closely with neighborhoods, HCTRA was able to turn technical requirements into visible community benefits and secure broad support.
“The people that the project benefits have to be along the corridor, not just people who are on the corridor,” he said. That philosophy, “leave it better than we found it,” is one HCTRA intends to bring to Hempstead, in close alignment with Precincts 3 and 4.
Guajardo urged participants to think beyond a traditional highway cross-section. Drawing inspiration from Chicago’s historic boulevard system, he argued for a design that can “do both mobility and access,” with through-traffic accommodated in the middle and more local, access-oriented frontage elements at the edges. Achieving that vision will require “the very best of us,” strong planning frameworks, landscape architecture to “breathe vision and life” into the corridor, and high-quality civil and traffic engineering.
Heppen, meanwhile, stressed the importance of separating people from cars wherever possible. Precinct 3’s long-standing commitment to off-network hike-and-bike trails, such as the Terry Hershey system and the growing network along creeks and bayous, demonstrates how an aligned trail and drainage system can create high-capacity, low-conflict routes for pedestrians and cyclists. “The more we can separate cars from people, the better we can do it,” he said, especially in a region where car dependency remains high.
Transit, TOD (Transit-Oriented Development), and the Role of the Private Sector
The panel also addressed the recurring question of high-capacity transit in the corridor. Speaking in his personal capacity and not on behalf of METRO, Treviño was candid about the challenges. Existing METRO facilities and park-and-ride services are oriented to US 290 itself, not Hempstead. Physical constraints, land availability, and ridership patterns make it difficult to design a viable transit service that runs on Hempstead.
Hempstead Rd. looking Eastbound towards Downtown Houston
“I don’t think transit is going to work in this corridor,” he said of Hempstead specifically, while emphasizing that HCTRA would remain open to compatible concepts and that METRO’s park-and-ride system will continue to be a backbone for commuters along 290.
On high-speed rail, Treviño noted that HCTRA is willing to preserve an envelope in the corridor if regional leaders determine that is a priority, but cautioned against increasing near-term costs or sacrificing community amenities for a project that is “99% unfunded” today.
Guajardo and Heppen both highlighted opportunities for transit-supportive and mixed-use development at key nodes, especially in the outer portions of the corridor where new master-planned communities and employment centers are emerging. Guajardo described “TOD without the T,” places designed for multimodal access and mode shift even when high-capacity transit is not immediately present, including mobility hubs where travelers can switch between driving alone, carpooling, and other modes.
Heppen challenged the private sector to lean in if the region wants more integrated park-and-ride or shared-use facilities. “You can lead or you can follow,” he told the audience of engineers and developers. “If you want to have commercial-oriented park and rides, work with your developers… go to METRO, go to Harris County and say, ‘We want to help do this.’”
Funding, Partnerships, and Innovation
Every element of the conversation came back to funding and collaboration. Heppen noted that roughly 70% of Precinct 3’s capital spending last year flowed through partnership projects, from joint drainage improvements with MUDs to shared investments with other local entities. Precinct 4’s “Places for People” program has similarly leveraged about $150 million in precinct dollars into roughly $250 million in total projects with more than two dozen partners.
For HCTRA, the key is careful stewardship of an enterprise fund that must maintain high credit ratings, honor existing commitments, and absorb rapidly rising construction costs while still advancing new projects like Hempstead. “There’s not a lot of money sitting around,” Treviño said. “We invest everything back in the county.” That reality is driving a renewed focus on revenue-generating projects that can stand on their own through tolls, rather than facilities with no associated income stream.
Innovation is one way HCTRA is trying to stretch limited dollars. Treviño described recently patented AI tools that now allow the authority to correctly count axles at toll plazas with roughly 99% certainty and to read license plates far more efficiently. Those changes have already reduced image-processing costs from about 9.5 cents to 3 cents per transaction while improving the customer experience.
At the county level, innovation is more incremental but equally important. Heppen pointed to the need to modernize traffic-signal systems and fiber networks, even as basic signal maintenance and replacement compete for limited resources. Guajardo noted that Harris County is also exploring AI to help streamline permitting, a step that could reduce delays and help partners deliver projects more quickly.
Looking Ahead
Special thank you to our panelists!
The forum underscored that the future of the 290 and Hempstead corridor cannot be reduced to a single project or agency. It will require coordinated investments in toll facilities, thoroughfares, hike-and-bike systems, drainage, and local streets; a blend of traditional funding and innovative value-capture tools; and sustained engagement from public officials, agencies, developers, and community members from 610 to Hempstead.
As Webb summarized through his questions, the task now is to take a corridor long discussed in plans and freight studies and turn it into a connected, resilient, and community-oriented mobility spine that serves both today’s residents and the next generation. The conversation at this forum was an important step toward that goal, and WHA’s Regional Mobility Committee will continue to convene partners to keep the 290 corridor moving forward.