For nine weekends every fall, more than 500,000 kings, queens, knights, nobles, and other fanciful characters gather for the Texas Renaissance Festival. Billed as “the nation’s largest, most acclaimed Renaissance-themed park,” the festival features a recreated 55-acre 16th-century English township complete with shopping, craft exhibitions, performances and restaurants.
But while eating, drinking, dancing and jousting in a 16th-century environment is fun, getting there via 20th-century roadways is not.
The festival takes place 50 miles outside Houston, and one of the primary routes is through Conroe, via State Highway 105. During festival times, the two-lane roadway is so clogged with travelers that local residents either stay home or leave town.
TxDOT is expanding the roadway to four lanes, which will ease congestion and open opportunities for new development along the roadway. McKim & Creed is providing right-of-way mapping for 4.6 miles of SH 105. This involves plotting more than 150 deeds and creating 125 parcel plats—three times the number of parcels typically needed for a TxDOT project.
When construction is complete within the next few years, travel to the Texas Renaissance Festival may become almost as fun as being there.