How Crenshaw Saved Kingwood Project from Chopping Block

1/30/26 – A four-million dollar earmark secured by U.S. Representative Dan Crenshaw for widening the Walnut Lane Bridge in Kingwood saved the entire $44 Million Kingwood Diversion Ditch Project from being killed by the Democratic members of Harris County Commissioners Court.

U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw gives the thumbs up to the Walnut Lane Bridge project. Widening the bridge is necessary to widen the Kingwood Diversion Ditch (background) which will also help reduce flood risk along Bens Branch.

Crenshaw requested the funding in 2023. Congress awarded it in 2024. Then in 2025, the Democratic members of Harris County Commissioners Court passed a motion to reallocate all funding from projects that fell below the top quartile of their equity prioritization framework to projects in the top quartile. That was because inflation had eaten up 25-30% of the purchasing power in the 2018 Flood Bond.

Ramsey to the Rescue

At the time, Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey PE warned that killing projects in Quartiles 2, 3 and 4 could have dire unintended consequences. The Diversion Ditch project fell into Quartile 3.

After the Democrats saw how much partnership funding they would lose by killing projects in the lower quartiles, they relented. In their next meeting, they voted to exempt projects in the lower quartiles that already had partnership funds committed.

That breathed new life into the Kingwood Diversion Ditch project because it included widening of the Walnut Lane Bridge which Crenshaw had already secured funding for.

Multiple Benefits: A Texas Twofer

But the project will benefit far more of Kingwood than just the people who live in Diversion Ditch floodplains. It will also benefit people who live near Bens Branch. That includes the Villages of Bear Branch, Kings Forest, Hunters Ridge, Town Center, Kings Harbor and Kingwood Greens.

That’s because widening the Diversion Ditch will take excess stormwater out of Bens Branch and allow water to move safely down the Diversion Ditch. The planned improvements will take Bens Branch from a 2-year level of service to a 100-year level.

Bens Branch and Kingwood Diversion Ditch — *Kingwood Diversion Ditch in white, new outfall in green, and Bens Branch in red.*

That means homes in the Bens Branch floodplains should be safe in anything up to a 100-year storm. Currently, the stream is at risk of flooding parts of its watershed every two years.

Twelve seniors died along Bens Branch in the Harvey flood who lived at Kingwood Village Estates. That’s a third of all the people in Harris County and a fifth of all the people in the state who died as a result of Harvey flooding.

When the Diversion Ditch project is completed, Crenshaw will have helped protect people and property values in approximately half of Kingwood.
Bob Rehak

Crenshaw Support Crucial on Other Projects, Too

The Kingwood Area Drainage analysis found that, based on the number of people who benefit, the Diversion Ditch project is one of the two most important in Kingwood. Another is the Taylor Gully/Woodridge Project which Crenshaw also secured funding for.

In fact, Crenshaw secured funding for 10 Lake Houston Area Projects in 2024 alone.

Editorial Comment: I interviewed Crenshaw in 2018 when he first ran for Congress and have followed his work in Washington ever since. The man is a warrior, scholar and leader. He fights tirelessly to improve the lives of his constituents. He studies issues. And thoughtfully and patiently explains them. There’s no way he could have known what Commissioners Court would do in 2025 when he proposed the Walnut Lane Bridge funding in 2023. Regardless, his proactive effort will improve the safety of tens of thousands of his constituents.

For more information including a timetable for the Kingwood Diversion Ditch Project, see this recent post.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 1/30/26

3076 Days since Hurricane Harvey