ReduceFlooding.com has published a short overview of the Northpark Drive expansion, the Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority project widening Northpark from four lanes to six between Woodland Hills and US 59 and building a bridge over the Union Pacific tracks and Loop 494. The site describes the finished road as a first all weather evacuation route for about 78,000 people, and notes that a stopped train can currently block Northpark entirely.
The work also adds detention basins, raises sections of roadway that flood between Bens Branch and the Kingwood Diversion Ditch, widens the northern drainage ditch and installs new streetlights. Phase I, from US 59 to Russell Palmer, is targeted for completion in early 2027, and Phase II, from Russell Palmer to Woodland Hills, for 2032. It is funded through tax increment revenue collected inside TIRZ 10. During Hurricane Harvey, Kingwood exits including Hamblen Road, Kingwood Drive and Mills Branch went underwater, leaving residents with no reliable way out.
