Goodson Loop and Hardin Store Road Are Done. The County Just Borrowed Less Than It Planned for What Comes Next.
By The Magnolia Standard · October 13, 2026
Seventeen months after voters approved the road bond, a list of Magnolia-area roads is finished. The next round of borrowing shrank, and the county's own adviser named the reason.
Goodson Loop has been rebuilt, all 3 miles of it. So has Hardin Store Road, 4.3 miles. Both are marked complete on the project list of Precinct 2, the county commissioner's precinct that takes in Magnolia. The list was updated October 9. Both were paid for by the $480 million road bond Montgomery County voters approved in May 2025, the county's first road bond in a decade.
On Thursday, October 8, commissioners approved the next sale of bonds to keep that work going. It is for $35 million.
Why $35 million and not $60 million
In January, county staff laid out a plan to borrow the next $120 million in two halves: $60 million closing in May, and a second $60 million later in 2026, with October or November named as the likely window. The second sale came in smaller.
County finance officials told the court this is the smallest round the county will sell, because interest rates have climbed past what they projected. "National debt, the Iran conflict and inflationary fears have pushed interest rates up a lot higher than we projected," said John Robuck, who advises the county on its bonds. A county presentation put municipal rates at 5.21%, above their average since 2001.
The plan is to borrow enough to keep paying for roads through June and hope rates settle by then. The county is spending about $11 million a month on road work, Budget Officer Amanda Carter said, and has $57 million in the bank for bond projects. She told commissioners they can still spend on every project already budgeted.
What is finished around Magnolia
Precinct 2's bond projects marked complete as of October 9 include:
- Goodson Loop, 3 miles, from FM 1774 back around to FM 1774, widened where possible.
- Hardin Store Road, 4.3 miles, including the first phase from FM 2978 to Dobbin Hufsmith Road.
- Wright Road, 2.42 miles, from Decker Prairie Road to the post office in Pinehurst.
- Rabon Chapel Road, 4.2 miles.
- Capitol Hill Road, about 1.4 miles from McCaleb Road to Rabon Chapel. The Texas Quality Asphalt Pavement Association gave the contractor's work on it the state's Best County Road award.
Kidd Road, River Plantation Drive, Mail Route Road, Old Highway 105 West, Butera Road and Pine Lane are on the same complete list.
What is still under construction
- Honea Egypt Road, the longest job on the list: 8.96 miles from Sendera Ranch Road to FM 2854. The first mile, at the Sendera Ranch entrance, is done.
- Kuykendahl Road, from the Research Forest area to FM 1488, in progress.
What happens next
- The county expects to sell the bonds around November 19 and receive the money within 30 days after that.
- It will be the third sale under the 2025 bond. The county has taken in $192 million from the bonds so far.
- The bonds are paid off through 2051.
- Each of the four precincts gets an equal share of the bond, $120 million apiece.
Precinct 2 posts its road projects and their status at commprecinct2.org. If a road near you is on it and you have seen the crews, tell us how it is going.
Editor's note: this ran as straight reporting because it covers a vote that has happened, the county's own figures, and a project list the precinct publishes. Whether the county should borrow now or wait for lower rates is a fair question; the court has made its call for this round, and we report what it decided and why.
Sources: Community Impact's October 9, 2026 report on the October 8 vote, for the $35 million sale, the rates, Mr. Robuck's and Ms. Carter's remarks, the monthly spending, the cash on hand, the November timeline and the 2051 payoff; its report on the January 29, 2026 meeting, for the two $60 million sales; its March 2025 report, for the $120 million split by precinct; and Precinct 2's road projects page, updated October 9, 2026, for every road's status, length and limits and the Capitol Hill Road award. Corrections to editor@themagnoliastandard.news.