Firm to offer multiple alternatives to FM 518 bypass

At a public meeting on Thursday, a consulting firm will present multiple alternatives to building a bypass around League City's busiest intersection.
Scheduled at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers, 200 W. Walker, the meeting will focus on the intersection known as Five Corners where FM 518, FM 270 and FM 2094 come together near Clear Creek High School.
City Council on Tuesday approved spending $20,000 to have the Occam Consulting Group analyze ways to alleviate traffic at the intersection, said Richard Oller, the city's utilities and public works director.
They're going to provide some reasonable alternatives besides just the bypass that has been designed," Oller said.
Even before it was contracted for the work, Occam started working on those alternatives about 1 1/2 weeks ago, Oller said. The firm will provide at least seven and possibly eight options like:
do nothing
a first phase FM 518 overpass from FM 270 to FM 2094
a second phase FM 518 overpass from FM 270 to FM 518
additional lanes
a single roundabout
two roundabouts
a flyover like the NASA bypass
Occam will rank the alternatives based on factors such as cost, safety, environmental impact and construction time, Oller said.
These will be the options that are now on the table that we're going to discuss internally, externally and hopefully come up with a viable solution," he said.
Oller said Thursday's public meeting is only the beginning to solving the intersection's traffic problem. Residents may sign up to speak at the meeting.
At this point, we're not going to make a final decision based on the meeting," he said.
The city does not have a timeline for making a decision, but Oller would like to have the options narrowed to three.
That may include the bypass that has been designed," he said.
After bypass opponents complained at a public meeting last month they hadn't seen the long-planned route laid out until April, Mayor Toni Randall promised another meeting and said that detailed documents would be added to the city's website.
The city had planned a follow-up meeting for May 27, but postponed it until Thursday so the city could have more time to gather data.
The meeting will be shown on League City's website or Channel 16, and video from the meeting will archived at www.leaguecitycouncilvideos.com.