After weeks of receiving public input, Williamson County Commissioners voted to amend the county’s long-range transportation plan Oct 13.

In order to keep up with the increase in residents and vehicles traveling through Williamson County, officials sought out public input to help learn how to coordinate connectivity and mobility throughout the region. Officials held two public meetings Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, along with virtual open houses online Sept. 18-Oct. 9.

Twelve people attended the public meetings and the county received 21 resident comments. Robert Daigh, the senior director of infrastructure for the county, said his department responded to all of the comments individually.

Many of the comments came from bicyclists requesting wide shoulders on roadways, Daigh said. Commissioner Cynthia Long said the county does not plan to add bicycle lanes to controlled access families, or roadways that have main lanes, express lanes and frontage roads.

“Sixty-five mile speed limits don’t mix well with bikes,” she said. “But there are appropriate places for those, just not on controlled access facilities.”

The court added a conceptual map to the plan, which shows the ultimate build-out for controlled access facilities in the county. Daigh said with the amount of growth in Williamson County, commissioners need to look at future needs in terms of building out the county’s roadways.

“We’re trying to show that we need to have a system of controlled access facilities across the county for ultimate build out so that we ensure safety and mobility for the county as we move into the coming decades,” Daigh said.

His department has been working with city officials in Round Rock and Georgetown and local property owners to gather input on the plan. The court unanimously voted to include the conceptual build-out map and made tweaks to certain roads on the map during the Oct. 13 meeting.

Now that the plan has been amended, the county will take the changes to the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning organization. Final routes for the conceptual locations of the plans will be determined through planning and environmental studies.