The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization agreed June 9 to review an elevated toll road proposed by the city of Lakeway as it prepares its 2040 Regional Transportation Plan.
As proposed, SH 45 W would connect the existing SH 45 in Southwest Austin to RR 2222 at RR 620 in west Austin.
Lakeway City Councilman Joe Bain, who serves on CAMPO's Transportation Policy Board, said the toll road would be intended to bypass a segment of RR 620 and relieve some of the congestion in the area. He said the project is routed through a part of the city of Austin but not through Lakeway.
CAMPO Senior Planner Lisa Weston said the project was atypical in that a city is proposing a project in a different jurisdiction.
By a vote of 17-3, CAMPO's Transportation Policy Board agreed to retain the toll road project on the illustrative project modeling list.
Illustrative projects generally include proposals for which funding has not been identified, Weston said. Modeling involves flipping a switch on a computer to determine the effect of the project on the whole regional system, she said.
The project was put to a vote twice. Austin Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole said she singled out the Lakeway project because it lacked funding and a location, and that it crossed subdivisions and posed environmental concerns.
The three votes against including the project on the modeling list were cast by Cole, Austin City Councilmen Chris Riley and Bill Spelman. Riley cast Spelman's vote in his absence.
"My whole goal [for the proposal] was to get something started for the western [Travis County] small cities," Bain said. "There is nothing in the 2040 plan to impact our traffic situation."
Bain said he believed the vote marked the first time an illustrative project had been approved to be modeled.
She said the Technical Advisory Committee and CAMPO staff recommended the illustrative list of projects without considering fiscal constraints, Weston said. However, fiscal constraint must be applied to the preferred scenario, or CAMPO's comprehensive list of projects for 2040, she said.
"The [toll road project] won't be chosen as preferred unless someone steps up and says they have funding for it," Weston said. "Unsponsored projects can't make it to the preferred list because no one will build it.
She said she believes Lakeway's $750 million cost estimate only includes engineering preparations and does not include mitigation costs or working with environmental groups.
"They're having traffic and congestion issues in Lakeway," Weston said. "This [placement on a CAMPO list] is a conversation starter as to how to address that."
Transportation Policy Board Chairman William Conley asked Bain if the proposal—as a toll road—is self funding. Bain said the city had not received a confirmation from toll authorities approving its status.
"Even though there isn't funding [for the project], we think—and the Technical Advisory Committee thinks—we have enough support to do a toll road and have some kind of funding later in the process," he said.
He said he has concerns about the path the toll road would actually take but that it would probably be elevated through the Balcones Canyonland Preserve.
"One issue is the land [Lakeway] is proposing to go over is already mitigation land for other projects and is bird habitat," Weston said.
Agenda materials specified that Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources and City of Austin Transportation Department staff do not support the roadway because of feasibility and environmental issues stemming from the project.
CAMPO is scheduled to have an approved plan by May 2015.
