New bridge links Sienna Plantation and Riverstone, enhances area mobility
Dec 10, 2013
After a year and a half design phase and 13 months of construction, Tuesday, Dec. 3 marked the debut of a 300-foot bridge over the Flat Bank Creek Diversion Channel, connecting LJ Parkway in Riverstone and Sienna Springs Road in Sienna Plantation. Now open to drivers, the four-lane roadway streamlines the ease of mobility for the residents of two of unincorporated Fort Bend County’s largest master-planned communities.
Rather than looping up through University Boulevard, the bridge allows Riverstone residents an alternate connection to Highway 6 and U.S. 59. It will also provide easier access to the Fort Bend Parkway, once construction on the toll road’s $20 million extension from Highway 6 to Sienna Parkway concludes in early 2014.
On the Sienna Plantation side of Flat Bank Creek, the bridge diverts traffic to U.S. 59 off of Highway 6, giving residents more route options when driving to First Colony Mall or the University of Houston Sugar Land campus.
Sienna Plantation General Manager Alvin San Miguel said the bridge’s opening is part of a larger design to divert traffic from U.S. 59 onto University and the Fort Bend Parkway, and funded primarily by the county’s $156 million mobility bond package in 2007.
“Highway 6 at the time was the only corridor to get over to 59,” San Miguel said. “When they opened up University, that became another corridor to bypass parts of Sugar Land and help relieve some of that congestion. So this is going to be another good corridor to help relieve some more congestion off of Highway 6 for folks that want to travel to 59 or the Fort Bend Toll Road.”
“This way, the Sugar Land people – the people who live on the north side – have the bridge connecting with the Fort Bend Toll Road, and it’s a one-way shot to downtown and the Medical Center area,” said Rocky Lai, principal investor and developer of Riverstone and Sienna. “Same thing for Missouri City and the people who live on the other side; we’re taking access to 59 and First Colony without going through a very congested Highway 6. So this is a win-win for both.”
The Flat Bank Creek Diversion Channel separates not just Sienna and Riverstone, but also serves as the natural boundary between Fort Bend County Precincts 2 and 4. While the precincts funded the lion’s share of the $2.4 million bridge, the project was a collaborative effort between the county, Johnson Development Corp. – the developer of the two communities – and the area’s municipal utility district, levy improvement zone and tax increment reinvestment zone.
Precinct 2 Commissioner Grady Prestige said that the bridge had been planned for the area far before the 2007 mobility bond election, but that it took some years before the area saw enough development to make that sort of investment feasible. With Riverstone and Sienna’s growth over the past few years – a report by Metrostudy last summer ranked both in a list of the nation’s top 20 master-planned communities for new home sales – Prestige said conditions for making the bridge a reality became increasingly more favorable.
“This part of Sienna is pretty much built out; Riverstone is still going,” Prestige said. “And so it really gives you an alternative to having to take Highway 6 to go to the mall, to get to 59, Sugar Land, the University of Houston Sugar Land and so many employment centers, without having to go through Highway 6 traffic.”
Posted: Tuesday, December 10, 2013 5:00 am | Updated: 6:32 am, Tue Dec 10, 2013.