"When we start to move dirt, when we start having equipment out there, we start having barrels, it's going to be a major change." TxDOT spokesperson Danny Perez said that to ABC13 in July, and he followed it with a reminder: "It's good to start planning now. While it's still a year out, it's going to come fast."
For anyone who drives Broadway to get to work, school pickup, or the grocery store, the extra lane gets most of the attention. The bigger change to your weekly routine is quieter. The project replaces Broadway's continuous center turn lane with a raised median, and that changes where you can turn left into the places you already go. The corridor is also reshuffling now, through right-of-way deals, utility moves, and business relocations, years before the main roadwork begins.
The crews out there right now aren't building the road
If you've seen work crews along FM 518 this year, that's utility work. KPRC reported on September 14, 2026, that TxDOT confirmed the actual roadway construction had not started.
Under the split of duties, the City of Pearland moves its own water and wastewater lines, and TxDOT builds the road. Pearland awarded a $1.6 million engineering contract to Cobb, Fendley & Associates to relocate city water and wastewater infrastructure between Cullen Parkway and McLean Road. The city's capital improvement plan lists a second utility relocation phase, from Old Chocolate Bayou to McLean Road, for 2026. The Pearland Economic Development Corporation says it is funding the city's $28.5 million share of the project. That includes nearly $20 million for water and sewer relocations, plus traffic signal, local street, and streetscape work.
No published source gives a finish date for the underground work you can see now, and none says which crew is working at which cross street. Expect some unannounced lane shifts until the road contracts begin.
The calendar, in two overlapping phases
TxDOT splits the job into two projects. Each one runs on its own clock, and all of the dates below are forecasts.
- West segment, SH 288 to Cullen Boulevard (FM 865). KPRC reports construction is expected to start in fall 2027. A preliminary TxDOT Houston District letting table lists the contract for September 1, 2027.
- East segment, Cullen Boulevard to Halbert Drive/McLean Road. ABC13 reports a start near the end of 2028. TxDOT's planning schedule for this segment, revised September 9, 2026, shows bids on August 3, 2028, construction starting January 8, 2029, and completion on April 16, 2031. The schedule labels itself preliminary.
- The overlap. KPRC reports each project should take about three years. ABC13 puts it at three to four. The east segment starts about a year after the west, so both will be under construction at the same time for a stretch.
Measured from today, September 30, 2026, the west segment is about a year from its first barrels. If the preliminary schedule holds, the east segment finishes about four and a half years from now.
KPRC puts the combined cost at about $186 million, and ABC13 reported $187 million. Some coverage describes the project as running all the way to SH 35. TxDOT's project page says construction stops at Halbert Drive/McLean Road, and no improvements are proposed between there and SH 35. If your routine stays on the stretch of Broadway closest to Main Street, the construction zone ends west of you.
TxDOT says two lanes in each direction will stay open once roadwork begins. Drivers should still expect temporary lane closures and effects on intersections and driveways.
The median decides where you can turn
Today, much of Broadway works like this: you see the place you want, pull into the center lane, and turn left. TxDOT's design ends that. Within the construction limits, the road goes from four lanes to six. The inside lanes are 12 feet wide and the outside lanes are 15 feet, wide enough for bicycles. A raised median between 14 and 18 feet wide runs down the middle. The open roadside ditches become curb-and-gutter drainage, and sidewalks are added along the outside.
TxDOT's 2020 final environmental assessment explains the plan. Openings in the median will be created "at select locations and intersections," and the agency expects those access changes to improve congestion. The same document is direct about the trade-off. It says the changes in access and travel patterns "could result in slightly longer travel times for residents, employers, or commercial customers along FM 518." It also says businesses that depend on 18-wheelers could see negative effects from the raised medians. TxDOT presents the medians as a safety measure meant to reduce traffic conflicts along the whole project.
Parts of Broadway already work this way. The assessment lists existing raised-median sections at the Harkey/O'Day intersection, at Hatfield Road, and at Woody Road/Corrigan Drive. If you drive those stretches, you already know how it feels to pass your turn and loop back.
The detail every regular on Broadway will want is the exact location of each median opening. Pearland's 2020 Broadway Corridor Development Plan says TxDOT's schematic at that time placed raised medians that would change about 68 driveways along the corridor, and the plan maps those locations in an appendix. The same plan calls for the city and PEDC to keep giving TxDOT feedback on an amended access management program, including any driveway closures, relocations, or modifications. That 2020 schematic predates the current schedule, and we haven't found a final, current list of median openings or confirmation of U-turn lanes. Until TxDOT releases its final design, the 2020 appendix is the best available guide to which coffee stop or pharmacy will still have a direct left turn.
The corridor started changing before the construction did
Twenty-five more acres of right of way have to come from somewhere, and TxDOT's project page says residential and commercial displacements are expected. ABC13 reported in July that about a dozen businesses would have to relocate or close, and that others would keep their buildings but lose parking.
"We understand the rights of the many outweigh the rights of the few, in this case, us. We understand that as a result of our growth, we're going to see some changes."
Local businessman Craig Slater said that to ABC13. He has been in the same building off FM 518 for 10 years and has lived in Pearland for more than three decades. He described a negotiation with TxDOT that had been running for more than two years, and he is moving about two and a half miles away, to South Park Avenue.
The first loss most diners noticed was Tacos Toreados. The restaurant closed its storefront at 5627 Broadway St. on August 16 and said the planned expansion was the reason. It is still catering tacos, quesadillas, mini tortas, and fajitas while it looks for a new location.
City Hall has been working on what happens to the properties that stay. In April 2025, Mayor Kevin Cole said the city should be careful to protect businesses that become nonconforming after the takings. A city community development official put the number of affected properties at about 17. He said each acquisition is negotiated with the individual owner and that the city wants to make owners "as whole as we can be." That discussion was about updating code requirements on setbacks, landscaping, and parking for lots that lose frontage. It was not a relocation grant program.
What's still opening on Broadway this fall
New businesses are still choosing Broadway addresses even as some leave. Last Page Books and More, owned by Mark Pavlas, is scheduled to open October 17 at 5517 W. Broadway St., Suite D, selling used books, DVDs, CDs, and vinyl. That's a short distance from the Tacos Toreados storefront that closed in August. The Empanada Bar held its Pearland grand opening August 18 at 1330 Broadway St. Farther west, a second Pearland Dunkin' is under construction at 11630 W. Broadway St. Work was set to run from September 7 into December, and no opening date has been announced. Kimberlee Key's reformer Pilates studio, Pilates Addiction, is planned for 11836 W. Broadway St. in late 2026 or early 2027.
October is a good month to eat along the corridor while the turns are still easy. Pearland Restaurant Weeks runs October 1 through 31. Participating restaurants offer prix-fixe meals or bundles, and donations benefit the Pearland Neighborhood Center.
If you own a home or a business near Broadway, you may have questions about access, timing, or how the project could come up in a future sale. Nova Gen Realty Group can go through the published TxDOT documents with you and explain what's known and what's still pending. Schedule a consultation.
