Nearly a year after drivers first raised safety concerns about dark stretches of the Grand Parkway, many lights remain out along parts of the toll road, leaving motorists to navigate miles of roadway in near darkness.
The concerns focus on parts of the Grand Parkway in Harris County, including the stretch between FM 1093 and I-10 and a nine-mile stretch between Mueschke Road and Highway 249.
Regular users said the lack of lighting makes the drive feel unsafe, especially at night.
“It’s not safe at all,” daily Grand Parkway driver Sabrina Mize said. “It’s way too many stretches where it’s almost pitch black.”
Mize said drivers pay to use the toll road and expect basic safety features to be maintained.
“We pay money into it every time we come through the tollway, so it would be nice to see some lights going up,” she said.
When KPRC 2 first reported on the issue in December, TxDOT said a construction project was affecting lighting in the area at FM 1093 and I-10.
Months later, the agency said construction is completer while work on lighting is still ongoing.
TxDOT has not provided a timeline for when the repairs will be completed.
In a statement, TxDOT said, “The section of SH 99 between I-10 (not State Highway 10 as quoted in Joy’s story) and FM 1093/Westheimer Road had a widening project completed recently. The corridor includes both high-mast and conventional roadway lighting.We are currently working to add all lighting along this section of the corridor to an existing maintenance contract. Once that is done, any identified lighting issues will be addressed via the contract and repairs made.”
As far as the lights between Mueschke Road and Highway 249, Houston Public Works said it is not responsible for maintaining lights along the nine-mile stretch in Harris County.
The Harris County Toll Road Authority also said it is not responsible and pointed to TxDOT.
TxDOT says a lighting project along Highway 99, between U.S. 290 and Highway 249, was completed August 20, 2026, after delays caused by CenterPoint’s installation of power meters for the high-mast lights.
In the weeks that followed, TxDOT says lighting wires between Mueschke Road and Cypress Rosehill Road were stolen.
A work order has been created to repair those lights.
However, viewers continue to report outages between Cypress Rosehill Road and Highway 249. TxDOT says all other high-mast lights from Cypress Rosehill through 249 are working properly.
For now, drivers along those stretches of the Grand Parkway should expect the dark conditions to continue while agencies sort out responsibility and repairs.
