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Katy's new Cane Island overpass opens

By Andrea Watkins
Published  March 22, 2016 7:55pm CDT
News
FOX 26 Houston

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KATY (FOX 26) - The City of Katy hits a new milestone, opening up access to its growing Northwest corner. That's because the Texas Department of Transportation finished up Interstate 10's Cane Island overpass.

"This is a great day for the City of Katy," says Katy's mayor, Fabol Hughes. "We're opening up our new Cane Island overpass, the gateway to all of the development in the Northwest area of the city."

The Cane Island exit, I-10's number 739, is just West of Katy's Pin Oak exit. It's an $11 million project by TXDOT. That's a big investment for a place that looks pretty empty now, but it won't stay that way for long.

Cane Island is the name of the largest master planned community within Katy's city limits. It's so new that the streets aren't on your GPS, it's mostly empty lots, and there are more homes are under construction than completed. But eventually it will have 2,200 houses, priced from $300,000 to more than $1,000,000.

"Cane Island is the original name of this area," Mayor Hughes explains, for all who wondered how it could possibly be an island. "It came to be known as Katy later on with the Missouri Kansas railroad. It's just a natural name for this new master planned community."

But what's likely to put the Cane Island exit on the map is a little place called Buc-ee's that will be built in the Northwest corner of the intersection.

Hughes says Buc-ee's $25 million dollars in annual sales will bring a huge boost to the the city's sales tax revenue. He can't help but be excited about it.

"People have been asking for it, and asking for it," Hughes says, "and right over there is a sign that says Buc-ee's 106 miles. Well, that sign's going to be replaced in about a year and a half. It's going to say, 'You just missed it. Make a U-turn."

Construction for Buc-ee's hasn't even gotten started, the I-10 feeder road needs work, and Fort Bend County hasn't built the extension to FM 1463 yet. But even as it is right now, the new exit and overpass will ease congestion for motorists all over the area.