On April 9, 2010, we began our investigation into the case of the "Prairie Parkway." We consisted of David and me, two Sierra Club members in love with the Katy Prairie and convinced this important international birding and wildlife spot must be saved.

If this proposed road goes forward it will strike like a second dagger into the Katy Prairie (the proposed Grand Parkway, Segment E, is the first dagger) and block the land acquisition program of the Katy Prairie Conservancy (KPC). This program has resulted in the protection of 18,000 acres of the Katy prairie. The proposed Prairie Parkway will disrupt the KPC’s proposed link of protected land from Katy-Hockley Road to the west side of Waller County and the Brazos River.

Waller County supports and has proposed the Prairie Parkway which will run from the Brookshire – Pattison area north, from Interstate 10, to the Prairie View – Waller area near U.S. 290, paralleling much of the present route of FM 362. From our standpoint, the Prairie Parkway is another “road to nowhere” focused on opening up land for development, not providing solutions for transportation problems. The Prairie Parkway is a development project and not a transportation project.

We drove the area where the Prairie Parkway is proposed. Beginning at Woods Road, just south of Interstate 10 at the Fort Bend County line, the proposed route of the Prairie Parkway goes north equidistant between Nieman Road and Cardiff Road until it reaches Morton Road and then closely parallels Cardiff Road on its west side until it comes to Morrison Road. From Morrison Road it jogs to the west and closely parallels FM 362 on its east side until it comes to Rochen Road. The Prairie Parkway then jogs further to the west and closely follows Blinka Road until it ends at U.S. 290. Except for the area within ½ mile of Interstate 10 and U.S. 290 the entire proposed route and the area around it (with the exception of some small, scattered, residential and light industrial areas) is all farmland and includes rice farms.

During the drive we saw beautiful bunches of blooming Spider Lily, Blue-eyed grass, Spiderwort, Indigo, Dewberry, phlox, vetch, primrose, Bull thistle, Indian paintbrush, Red clover, Prickly poppy, Lyre-leaf sage, and many other flowers. We also saw many birds including Great Blue Heron, Meadow Lark, Red-wing Blackbird, Mourning Dove, Mockingbird, Scissortail Flycatcher, swallow, shrike, Caracara, Black Vulture, and Turkey Vulture.

Unlike its name, the proposed Prairie Parkway does nothing for parks and will lead to the direct destruction of hundreds of acres of prairie and agricultural land as well as important prairie pothole and riparian wetlands. Indirectly, the Prairie Parkway will create an incentive to develop thousands of acres of prime farmland that is located close to Houston and supplies us with food.

It would make much more sense to straighten out some of the curves on FM 362 (which goes from Brookshire to Waller), provide emergency shoulders and bike lanes, and if necessary widen this existing road.

The Sierra Club will continue its investigation of the proposed Prairie Parkway. We will advocate for protection of 50,000 acres of the Katy Prairie, stretching to the Brazos River, and sensible transportation solutions with dollars invested where people and congestion exist. Right now, out in the middle of Waller County farmland, traffic congestion is a non-starter. Let's keep it that way.

Brandt Mannchen

April 2010

Last updated:  05/09/2010.   Content © 1999-2010 by the Sierra Club.