But even without special events, residents said traffic congestion in Del Valle is growing with the plant’s development, as Travis County and the city of Austin work on improving infrastructure and roadways. Residents also said drivers' safety should also be considered after observing incidents and high speeding.
“It’s not as if this is a brand new problem,” said Richard Franklin, who lives in the Austin Colony Park neighborhood and is a community activist. “[Tesla] has exacerbated a problem that was already bad.”
Tesla’s gigafactory’s opening event in southeast Travis County was expected to bring higher traffic congestion on FM 973, FM 969, Hwy. 71, SH 45 SE and SH 130, as an estimated 15,000 invited guests arrived. Early release for Del Valle ISD students and Travis County Sheriff's Office deputies managed traffic flow the day of the event to alleviate traffic congestion.
Charter buses and rideshares transported guests to the event through FM 973 and FM 969 to enter Tesla Road, formerly known as Harold Green Road. Residents in the area said traffic was surprisingly lighter than usual because of the actions to alleviate traffic congestion, yet they still face daily traffic congestion due to the development of roadway expansion.
“[On April 13,] it took me 17 minutes to travel two and a half miles. I measure this because it’s so ridiculous. Sometimes it takes us longer, 23 minutes, just to get past that stretch of road [from FM 969 to Gilbert Road],” said Glorie Vera-Bedolla, who lives in the Hornsby Bend neighborhood.
Expansion of lanes for FM 973 and FM 969 are part of the most common requests from the community to create improved roadway systems. Many of the common roads for the community are state, city or county managed. While Del Valle is within Travis County, yet outside of Austin, road improvements require collaboration from all the entities that govern the area, as previously reported.
“Based on input from the 2017 Travis County Citizen’s Bond Advisory Committee and voter approval during the 2017 bond election, Travis County has been improving the infrastructure in the eastern crescent and looks forward to completing the capital improvement program projects,” said Hector Nieto, Travis County public information officer, in an email.
Travis County is overseeing projects for Gilbert Road and Tesla Road. Gilbert Road’s extension from FM 969 to Austin's Colony neighborhood is marked completed, and the Tesla Road extension from SH 130 eastward to Colony as a two-lane road with bike lanes and sidewalks is in design, according to the county’s capital improvement program map.
In 2019, the Austin City Council adopted the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, where FM 969, FM 973 and SH 130 are in question for proposed changes. FM 969 includes improvements of expanding roadways, and FM 973’s proposed change includes four travel lanes. For SH 130, the proposed changes are made with the Texas Department of Transportation.
The second round of public commentary for the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan ended in late March, with no proposed changes made to the improvements of FM 969 or FM 973, according to the database.
“The community is always welcomed and encouraged to communicate with their commissioners court. If community members have concerns or suggestions regarding traffic and other infrastructure issues, the commissioners court and their staff are ready to listen,” Nieto said.
Del Valle’s infrastructure also has ties to historic inequitable policy decisions that prevented growth and accessibility for communities of color in Travis county, as Community Impact Newspaper previously reported. For many families in Del Valle today, these are the roads available for work, school and daily life.
Susanna Ledesma-Woody—a community leader, president of the Del Valle Community Coalition nonprofit organization and Del Valle ISD board trustee—said the town will need to prepare for change as well.
“It’s just not going to be Tesla, it’s going to be many other companies that see Del Valle as the new frontier,” Ledesma-Woody said. “And [we] preserve what it means to be a Del Valle resident and preserve the uniqueness of our culture.”
Editor's note: This story was updated to reflect Susanna Ledesma-Woody's position with the Del Valle Community Coalition, a nonprofit organization.
Jennifer Castillo is a reporting fellow for a partnership with Community Impact Newspaper and The University of Texas focusing on our growing and diverse neighborhoods. The project is supported by the School of Journalism and Media’s Dallas Morning News Innovation Endowment.
