Work to expand Barton Skyway ramp on southbound MoPac to begin in January

The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is working to improve southbound MoPac at Barton Skyway to ease congestion issues.

Construction is expected to begin in January and will take about a year to complete. The nontolled improvement project will cost $10 million and is funded by the Mobility Authority.

The plan will need a final approval from the board of directors, which is expected at its April 25 meeting. After approval, the agency can seek construction bids for the project. Communications Director Jori Liu said the agency has been working on the project for a long time.

The improvements include:

• adding pavement for auxiliary and merge lanes on southbound MoPac from Barton Skyway to Loop 360;
• an acceleration lane for the southbound Barton Skyway entrance ramp; and
• three dedicated through-traffic lanes at Loop 360.

During peak hours, traffic merging onto southbound MoPac at Barton Skyway and Bee Caves Road entrance ramps gets backed up to the Winsted Lane and Enfield Road entrance, causing traffic to slow down considerably on southbound MoPac and also causing an additional spillover on major roads that feed into it.

The bottleneck slows down traffic at the Loop 360 southbound exit, causing travel time of up to 38 minutes at peak hours.

Once the work is complete, travel time is expected to improve by 40% and allow for an additional 770 vehicles during the afternoon rush hour, according to the Mobility Authority.