Posted: Sat, 15 Jan 2011 11:21 AM - 11,550 Readers
By: Tiffany Young
Although many transportation projects are on hold in the Central Texas area, the Texas Department of Transportation is improving major roadways in West Austin to ease traffic before constructing additional roadways.
“We’re trying to put our limited money on the most important projects first. Maintaining what we have is going to be our first priority [and] then [focus on]adding lanes and mobility as funding becomes available,” John Hurt, director of public affairs at TxDOT said.
Turn lane at Bee Caves RoadDuring the second half of 2011 construction is expected to begin on a turn lane on Bee Caves Road at Red Bud Trail, West Lake Hills City Manager Robert Wood said.
TxDOT is redesigning the project, which is being funded by the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, to make it more affordable.
“We’ve done several iterations and design modifications to try and downsize that project to get the price down. We’ve got a lot of utility relocations that will still be involved in that, but we’re hoping to have it ready for letting [assigning after bids] this summer,” said Don Nyland, south Travis County area engineer for TxDOT.
Construction to widen Bee Caves Road from Red Bud Trail to Walsh Tarlton Road is unfunded at this time, but a plan is still being drawn up so the project can move ahead when funding is available.
“I’ve been in discussions with the mayor of Rollingwood to see what we can do for the section [of Bee Caves Road] that goes through Rollingwood,” Nyland said.
While TxDOT is working on Bee Caves Road, Nyland said he would like to raise the bridge running over the creek near Montebello Road—which is sometimes shut down because of flooding—and to implement other improvements to the portions of roadway that have not already been updated.
Both cities need to acquire right-of-way before construction begins.When the projects are finished, TxDOT expects the roads to be safer and flow better during high-volume traffic times.
Bridge at Capital of Texas Hwy.
In November 2009, TxDOT contractors began a $6.5 million project to improve the RR 2222 and Capital of Texas Hwy. intersection, construct a new bridge where RR 2222 crosses over Bull Creek and build a new stoplight at the RR 2222 and Lakewood Drive intersection.
Work is under way on the new bridge, which will be 208 feet long and will be 19 feet taller than the existing bridge.
“I think the floods of September showed why we’re doing that because the water level went way over the existing bridge, but it stayed right under where the new bridge is going to be,” TxDOT Austin District Engineer Carlos Lopez said.
The three-phase project is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2012. During much of the construction, eastbound RR 2222 will be reduced to one lane.
Widening Hwy. 71TxDOT has been making improvements on Hwy. 71 since 2005 to add center turn lanes from Hwy. 290 west to Pace Bend Road. The additions are expected to make travel safer in an area that has had many accidents, some of which were fatal, as well as keep traffic flowing.
“We’d love to be able to do for Hwy. 290 West what [Nyland’s] been able to do for Hwy. 71 with full shoulders all the way out to Hays County, but we don’t have the money to do that at this point in time,” Lopez said.
Nyland said there is not a completion date for the entire project because some of the projects are unfunded. There has been headway on the highway, which Nyland believes has already improved the roadway.
On Hwy. 71, center turn lanes were added last summer on a 2.65-mile stretch between Pace Bend Park Road to R.O. Drive, and TxDOT is now working on the almost three-mile portion to the east, from R.O. Drive to Bee Creek Road. This portion is expected to be complete late this year or spring 2012, depending on the amount of rain during construction.
Farther to the east, TxDOT has a hold on the area between just east of Bee Creek Road because it is waiting for Serene Hills Drive and Falconhead West to be completed and opened. Serene Hills runs through Lakeway, and the City of Lakeway has not opened the road yet because it is waiting on developers who need to complete cleanup work and Lake Travis ISD, which is finishing up its fiber optic lines.
“We just don’t want to open the road until all that work is finished because we don’t want to have to open it and then close it or have to put traffic control out there immediately after opening the roads,” Lakeway City Manager Steve Jones said.
He said that although the work should only take a couple of weeks, he is not sure when it will be done.
Once developers complete those projects, TxDOT will need funding before it can construct intersection improvements.
“There aren’t a lot of driveways in there right now, so we don’t have a project lined up yet,” Nyland said.
Another project, funded by the City of Bee Cave, was completed last summer at Bee Cave Parkway and Hamilton Pool Road, but work on Bee Cave Parkway is unfinished due to complications with utility lines during construction, which caused delays, as well as the City of Bee Cave trying to get right-of-way. Once Bee Cave Parkway is finished, concertgoers will be able to access The Backyard at Bee Cave by Hwy. 71 or RR 620, making traffic flow easier to and from the music venue.
In early December Nyland said these portions of Hwy. 71 have been safer—with no fatal accidents—since these projects were completed. However, after a fatal accident at Hamilton Pool Road and Reimers-Peacock Road mid–December, residents expressed concern about that intersection.
“As a resident with three drivers—one teenager—living on Hamilton Pool Road, I am strongly in favor of any safety and pedestrian/cyclist improvements in the roadway,” resident Scott Holland said.
Just east of Southwest Parkway, TxDOT is waiting on funds to begin constructing center turn lanes. It had planned on beginning this portion in 2010, but with local and state transportation funds running dry, TxDOT is unsure when it will begin.
An environmental document is complete on the roadway between Uplands Ridge Drive to Silvermine Drive, meaning if funding becomes available, the projects could begin soon after. Within that area, TxDOT asked the developers of Thomas Springs Road to add a turn lane, which is complete, and the developers of PromiseLand West Church will also be responsible for funding a turn lane.
“By 2013, we should be done with all the projects [on Hwy. 71] we’ve got going on right now and I don’t see anything new starting up, so it should make things flow a lot better—a lot safer anyway,” Nyland said. “When you get out past Bee Caves Road, it’s more a safety [issue] separating cars with a median in that four-lane section. When you get closer into town, over Barton Creek, where bicyclists are in the same lane as cars and someone stops to turn left into one of the neighborhoods, you’ll have a turn lane to sit in safely.”
