Many Houston residents are upset as more than 100 vehicles have been damaged while traveling along the State Highway 249 tollway.
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Several residents who were left with vehicle damage from road debris while driving on Hwy 249 contacted KPRC 2 and shared numerous photos detailing the damage. Many of the viewers who reached out to us suffered multiple instances of car damage from road deterioration.
In a Facebook group named “Ask Tomball,” one resident made a post discussing the issue of their vehicle being damaged, which eventually led many Tomball residents to speak out against paying the tollway fee only to incur expensive vehicle damages.
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“The windshield got cracked, and it wasn’t anything that could be repaired because it immediately shot across,” said Alan McCurry, who reached out to our team to discuss the issue faced by many traveling on northbound 249/99.
When asked about the cost of repairs on his vehicle windshield being fixed, McCurry says that Houston TxDOT referred him to contact Harris County Toll Road. He also says Harris County Toll Road Authority took 6-7 business days to respond.
When we asked if the road was always in this condition, McCurry said that it was repaired but eventually deteriorated again.
“It looks like all of those rocks are coming up, and it’s just large rocks coming at your vehicle,” McCurry told us.
McCurry shared his thoughts on what should be done going forward, “Somebody from Harris County Toll Road should be looking at that and be held accountable before something more serious than just a windshield occurs.”
KPRC2 reached out to Harris County Toll Road Authority for a response. They sent us the following statement:
“The asphalt along a portion of SH 249 has begun to disintegrate. HCTRA maintenance crews have been patching the affected areas where possible and sweeping the roadway on a weekly if not daily, cycle to mitigate the amount of debris.
Temperature fluctuations have exacerbated the condition of the highway, causing further deterioration, but we are moving forward as quickly as possible with an emergency repair order to improve driving conditions for everyone who travels this route. However, it is important to note the repaving material can only be applied when the temperature is consistently above 50 degrees.
HCTRA has also begun the process of providing a permanent fix and completely repaving the road, with this work anticipated to begin this summer.
Although it will take some time until the needed repairs are made to the tollway, we know the tollway will be fixed in the summertime, and no more vehicles will be damaged. Until then, the Harris County Toll Road is aware of this situation and has shared that viewers can file a complaint by going to their website, clicking on ‘send us an email,’ and selecting ‘Incident Response Team’ in the dropdown menu.”
