The big picture
The road is part of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority’s 183A Phase 3 project, which extends the existing 10-mile 183A Toll northward.
Crews are expected to finish work at the northernmost intersection by the end of May, with final construction and paperwork anticipated to wrap up by late July, Mike Sexton, the agency’s director of engineering, told Mobility Authority board members April 30.
Some context
This is not the first time the $259 million extension project has experienced delays.
In March, board member David Singleton raised concern over the lack of a clear deadline communicated by the project's contractor Lane Construction Co. for the opening of the 183A Phase 3 extension.
“I know in the timeframe since these things have started, we've had a lot going on between COVID, post-COVID, supply chain interruptions, lots of noise and things [like weather delays],” Doss said. “...But how does this experience going through these projects influence the next big project we might have... I don't want to have a habit of missing our deadlines.”
Board members additionally discussed how the demand for workforce will become a competitive field as many other large-scale projects move forward in the area, like Austin’s light rail, I-35 expansion, airport expansion and convention center redevelopment, among other private projects.
Texas Workforce forecasts the need for an estimated 10,000 new skilled laborers annually within the mobility and infrastructure industry, a more than 80% increase by 2040.
Also of note
Since opening, the new segment of 183A toll has seen over 1 million transactions, averaging around 35,000 transactions per day, according to Mobility Authority data.
“So far, it's been well received, and people are very happy,” Mobility Authority executive director James Bass said.
Leander resident Rachel Arnold supported the new toll during a Williamson County commissioners meeting April 15. She explained that traffic congestion on the frontage roads has been largely alleviated by the toll opening.
“It was taking us 26 minutes to get [my daughter] to softball practice at Larkspur along 183 tolls. Last week, when the toll road open, I stayed on the free lane frontage roads, and I was able to get my daughter to practice in 6 minutes,” Arnold said.
One last thing
“Concerns that come to me from [residents], is ‘We never stop paying once it's tolled, it's forever tolled’,” Williamson County Commissioner Valerie Covey said. “What a lot of folks don't realize is that there's a large cost to maintenance of these roads.”
It's typically more expensive to maintain a road than it is to construct it, she said.
