The city of Georgetown will begin public meetings on the city's Williams Drive Corridor Study in October.
The city and the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization will host the study's first public meeting Oct. 6 from 4:30-7 p.m. in the Lone Star Circle of Care Community Rooms, located at 2423 Williams Drive.
The comprehensive study, which began this summer, is focused on multimodal transportation, land use, economic development, housing and the environment along the Williams Drive corridor from Austin Avenue to Jim Hogg Road. The study could help determine how to improve traffic and economic development in the corridor, which is a gateway to the greater Austin area.
The project is being completed through a partnership between the city of Georgetown and CAMPO, which coordinates regional transportation planning and the distribution of federal transportation funding in Central Texas.
Georgetown Transportation Analyst Nat Waggoner said a review of the corridor's existing conditions is expected to be completed by mid-October.
The existing conditions analysis will also include looking at previous studies completed by the city as well as traffic counts, traffic signal timing, current and future land use as well as empty lots, and economic and financial conditions.
The process will also include a design meeting, known as a charrette, Nov. 12-16 at the Lone Star Circle of Care Community Rooms. The charrette is an intensive problem-solving program that gathers information from community members and works to identify solutions to those issues and concerns raised during the meeting, Waggoner said.
Design charrette meeting times:
- Nov. 12-Public workshop from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
- Nov. 13-Open design studio from 1-4 p.m.
- Nov, 14-Open design studio from 9 a.m.-7 p.m., with a lunch and learn session from noon-1 p.m.
- Nov. 15-Open design studio from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m., lunch and learn from noon-1 p.m., and open house 4:30-7:30 p.m.
- Nov. 16, 4-7:30 p.m. includes two sessions to present findings to the public.
Officials said the consultant, Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates, will begin draft the concept plans during the charrette as well as recommended projects with set short-term and long-term goals and an implementation plan to enhance safety, mobility and connectivity along the roadway, Waggoner said. The concept plan could be completed in mid-January and draft recommendations completed in mid-February.
A final report is expected to be presented by the end of March, Waggoner said.
