Southern segments of the Grand Parkway are good to go again, after state transportation officials in Austin backed off plans to shelve the projects and remove them from Texas’ 10-year transportation plan.

The Texas Transportation Commission on Thursday approved the Unified Transportation Program, which sets out projects the Texas Department of Transportation has on the horizon. The program also includes an unprecedented $300 million a year for roadway safety projects, following on a pledge to cut roadway deaths along state highways by 50 percent by 2035.

Unlike the initial proposal, the version passed Thursday retains upcoming projects along the Grand Parkway in Fort Bend, Brazoria and Galveston counties. Local officials cheered the decision and urged state officials not only to renew the project’s approval — for the state to proceed the project must be listed in the UTP — but expedite it.

“It is a good opportunity to keep up with the projected growth,” said Galveston County Commissioner Ken Clark, chairman of the Houston region’s Transportation Policy Council.

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The Grand Parkway projects, none of which is nearing construction, were recommended for removal last month by state transportation officials because of TxDOT’s interpretation of instructions from Gov. Greg Abbott to not advance toll projects. Abbott made it a priority and focused his support of 2014 and 2015 voter referendums that strictly prohibited using the new money on tolls. Since, Abbott and others have urged the transportation commission to scale back toll projects.

That prohibition imperiled proposed Grand Parkway segments B and C, which would extend the tollway from Interstate 69 southwest of Sugar Land to Interstate 45 in League City. Officials also had proposed removing a widening of Segment D north of I-69 in Sugar Land, along with ramps connecting the tollway and Interstate 10 in Chambers County. Added up, the projects represent about $1.35 billion in roadway work for the region.

As with other segments of the tollway, which has been in some form of planning or construction for 50 years, the state would borrow money to build the road and then repay the debt with toll revenues paid by drivers.

Houston-area officials vigorously fought to maintain the southern segments in the plan, which they argue are needed to provide evacuation routes through a flood-prone area and nurture development that is inevitable.

“It is not needed to stimulate growth, because the growth is already there,” said state Rep. Rick Miller, R- Sugar Land.

Many cities along the route are predicted to double in size as commercial and residential development in the Houston region sprawls from Interstate 69 and Interstate 45 to fill in the marshland between Rosenberg and League City. Miller said TxDOT should be proactive and continue — perhaps even accelerate — the tollway’s construction.

“A lot of times we do things backwards,” Miller told the state transportation commission. “The growth comes, and we try to figure out how to make it work.”

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Despite years of support for the tollway in Austin, times have changed and lawmakers have taken an increasingly hard line against using tolls to provide new roads.

That has left segments of the Grand Parkway — four decades in development — on the outside looking in for funding. Projects were planned as extensions of the existing tollway that runs from Interstate 69 near Richmond north and east around the Houston region to I-69 near New Caney. Work is ongoing to build the freeway south from I-69 to Interstate 10.

Segments B and C, extending the tollway from Richmond through Fort Bend and Brazoria counties and into Galveston County, were the next logical steps — until tolling fell out of favor with lawmakers and drivers in many metro areas.

“I get that whole scenario. … I don’t necessarily get it, but I understand it,” State Rep. Ed Thompson, R-Pearland, said last month about the anti-toll attitude. “But I think it is a mistake to remove those that are already along from the UTP.”

League City Mayor Pat Hallisey agreed, saying drivers are just looking for relief from traffic.

“They don’t care if they pay a toll or not, they just want to get there,” he said.

Bigger items

Though regional officials focused their efforts on preserving the Grand Parkway, projects included in the plan will have massive implications on travel around the region. The updated plan lists $4.7 billion in work along Interstate 45 and the near-total redesign of the downtown freeway system.

The I-45 widening, which faces numerous concerns along the route as TxDOT officials move toward federal approvals expected next year, has nine separate projects in the plan, some of which could start construction in two to three years.

To the south, the last segments of the ongoing I-45 widening toward the Gulf of Mexico are prepped for the next three years, taking the freeway to four lanes in each direction all the way to Galveston Island, with a new interchange at Texas City Wye, at a cost of $461 million.

Other projects include:

Widening Interstate 10 and adding HOV lanes to Brookshire for $378 million.

Building a new Texas 35 by converting and extending Spur 5 near the University of Houston to Bellfort at a cost of $337.2 million, including ramps at Loop 610.

Widening Texas 105 from Conroe to the Cleveland area to four lanes for $179.3 million.

Adding new ramps from Texas 225 to Beltway 8, a major truck connection, for $116 million.

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The plan statewide includes $600 million over the next two years for road improvements in the Permian Basin, where the oil and gas industry has increased the burden on roads, and an equal amount of safety projects across the state.

Possible uses of the safety money in Houston are expected to include straightening roads, improving lighting and adding guardrails, as well as some pedestrian and bicycling improvements where warranted.

As of Wednesday, state Transportation Commissioner Laura Ryan said 2,190 people have died on Texas roadways. In addition to the money, it will take drivers acting responsibly, she said.

“We don’t respect the vehicles we drive,” she said.

dug.begley@chron.com