From left: Roberta Carnes and Renee Downer review roadway proposals for the Four Points area during the Jan. 25 community-wide meeting held at Canyon Ridge Middle School.[/caption]
Roberta Carnes, a resident of retirement community Longhorn Village in Steiner Ranch, said she chose to spend Wednesday evening at a local community-wide meeting focused on transportation to hopefully hear a proposed solution to the region’s congestion.
“We have a terrible traffic problem on [RR] 620 and [RR] 2222,” she said. “Being retired, we can bend our day to [avoid] traffic. But for those who have regular work hours, they must spend a lot of their life in the car.”
Hosted by the Steiner Ranch Neighborhood Association, the event drew a full house at Canyon Ridge Middle School’s cafeteria, located off Quinlan Park Road, in the heart of the community.
Bruce Byron, project manager with Texas Department of Transportation, and David Greear, Travis County engineering division manager, provided the status of several projects that are currently underway or proposed for the area.
• Traffic signal: A traffic signal at the intersection of RR 620 and Steiner Ranch Boulevard is scheduled to be installed this summer at a cost of $250,000.
The Texas Department of Transportation proposed a project to create a six-lane roadway from West Hwy. 71 to Lakeway Boulevard and replace the center turn lane with a concrete median; replace the center turn lane with a concrete median from Lakeway Boulevard to Quinlan Park Road; create a six-lane roadway and replace the center turn lane with a concrete median from Quinlan Park Road to US 183; and add a four-lane elevated roadway, or other configuration, from RR 2222 to US 183.[/caption]
• Pedestrian hybrid beacon: A flashing beacon was installed in December at the school crossing in front of Steiner Ranch Elementary, at the intersection of Canyon Glen Drive and Quinlan Park Road. Currently, Travis County is waiting for Austin Energy to turn the power on at the beacon. The intersection receives 20,000 vehicles and 350 pedestrians daily.
• Paving: An asphalt overlay will be installed this summer on Steiner Ranch Boulevard, from RR 620 to Quinlan Park Road. The cost of the project is $300,000.
• Bypass: A bypass road is proposed off RR 620, just north of Steiner Ranch Boulevard and extending to near 11003 RR 2222, Austin. The project includes additional auxiliary lanes and raised medians with turn bays along RR 2222, extending from its intersection with the bypass to Ribelin Ranch Road. The entire bypass project, including the River Place Boulevard improvements is expected to cost $18 million. An environmental study has been completed for the bypass road but results of the environmental study for the RR 2222 section of the project have not been completed. Construction has not been funded.
• River Place Boulevard improvements: Additional lanes and a simultaneous turning pattern are proposed as part of the bypass project. An environmental study has been completed but construction has not been funded.
• RR 620 improvements: Additional lanes are proposed for RR 620 from US 183 to West Hwy. 71. A study of the proposal for RR 620 is being completed but construction has not been funded. The project is expected to cost about $50 million without the purchase of right-of-way to acquire the land for the extra lanes or the elevated roadway portion. The project can be ready to bid in the summer of 2018 and will take about 12-18 months to complete. The project has not been fully funded but Bee Cave and Lakeway have contributed monies toward the project.
The majority of the event's speakers supported proposed projects aimed at alleviating the traffic congestion in the area.
“My personal responsibility is to make sure that western Travis County gets the money it needs to make the improvements on [RR] 620,[RR] 2222, Loop 360, the "Y" at Oak Hill, [U.S] 290 [and] SH 45,” Rep. Paul Workman, R-Austin, said. “We have been working on this issue for several sessions and we will continue to do that.”
Precinct 2 Travis County Commissioner Brigid Shea said her precinct budget allocated some of the funding for the traffic signal to be constructed at the intersection of Steiner Ranch Boulevard and RR 620.
“The signal will hopefully improve getting in and out [of the neighborhood],” she said. “We also pushed to get the pedestrian crossing for the school.”
Brigid Shea, Precinct 2 Travis County Commissioner, told attendees that her district helped fund the traffic signal at Steiner Ranch Boulevard and RR 620 slated to be constructed this summer.[/caption]
Shea is on the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Board, and Jimmy Flannigan, a newly-elected Austin City Council Member, was appointed to the group Jan. 27. Jeff Travillion recently assumed the board position formerly held by Lakeway Mayor Joe Bain.
CAMPO controls the timing and some of the allocation of funds for projects in the region, including funding for construction of the bypass, Shea said.
“Twice now, [the bypass] has been taken out of the CAMPO budget, and out of the CAMPO sequencing, scheduling and planning,” she said. “In both instances I have not gotten good explanations for it.”
Shea said she had a follow-up meeting with TxDOT traffic engineer Terry McCoy, who committed to get the funding for the bypass project but did not have a specific timetable. She said nine intersection projects on Loop 360 received funding; however, RR 620 projects have not yet been funded.
“In addition to the city of Austin’s $7.5 million [2016 bond funds to be dedicated to projects in the RR 620 at RR 2222 corridor], our Austin District Engineer is very confident the remaining funding will be in place when needed and is working vigorously to ensure that,” TxDOT spokesperson Kelli Reyna said.
Although Flannigan—who represents District 6, which includes River Place and portions of RR 620 at RR 2222—cited challenges in addressing the district’s traffic concerns on state roads, he disagreed with a proposal that officials say would create an emergency access road within a federal utility easement from the joint Vandegrift High School and Four Points Middle School campuses. The schools, located at 9500 McNeil Drive, Austin, have only one access way and is surrounded by federal preserve land. The adjacent property, a 3M Company corporate site, is currently listed for sale.
“One of the other projects that is high on my list is to find some type of alleviation for the Vandegrift [High School], Four Points Middle School complex,” Flannigan said. "I think it is a good time to look for, if nothing else, a road easement. Whatever future property owner who takes over that [3M Company] land would be more easy to work with when we start talking about doing some connector roads [from the school complex]. And not a connector road through the [Balcones] Canyonland [Preserve]. That’s a ridiculous idea. You will never hear me speak of it again. No road through the canyonlands.”
From left: Roberta Carnes and Renee Downer review roadway proposals for the Four Points area during the Jan. 25 community-wide meeting held at Canyon Ridge Middle School.[/caption]
Roberta Carnes, a resident of retirement community Longhorn Village in Steiner Ranch, said she chose to spend Wednesday evening at a local community-wide meeting focused on transportation to hopefully hear a proposed solution to the region’s congestion.
“We have a terrible traffic problem on [RR] 620 and [RR] 2222,” she said. “Being retired, we can bend our day to [avoid] traffic. But for those who have regular work hours, they must spend a lot of their life in the car.”
Hosted by the Steiner Ranch Neighborhood Association, the event drew a full house at Canyon Ridge Middle School’s cafeteria, located off Quinlan Park Road, in the heart of the community.
Bruce Byron, project manager with Texas Department of Transportation, and David Greear, Travis County engineering division manager, provided the status of several projects that are currently underway or proposed for the area.
• Traffic signal: A traffic signal at the intersection of RR 620 and Steiner Ranch Boulevard is scheduled to be installed this summer at a cost of $250,000.
The Texas Department of Transportation proposed a project to create a six-lane roadway from West Hwy. 71 to Lakeway Boulevard and replace the center turn lane with a concrete median; replace the center turn lane with a concrete median from Lakeway Boulevard to Quinlan Park Road; create a six-lane roadway and replace the center turn lane with a concrete median from Quinlan Park Road to US 183; and add a four-lane elevated roadway, or other configuration, from RR 2222 to US 183.[/caption]
• Pedestrian hybrid beacon: A flashing beacon was installed in December at the school crossing in front of Steiner Ranch Elementary, at the intersection of Canyon Glen Drive and Quinlan Park Road. Currently, Travis County is waiting for Austin Energy to turn the power on at the beacon. The intersection receives 20,000 vehicles and 350 pedestrians daily.
• Paving: An asphalt overlay will be installed this summer on Steiner Ranch Boulevard, from RR 620 to Quinlan Park Road. The cost of the project is $300,000.
• Bypass: A bypass road is proposed off RR 620, just north of Steiner Ranch Boulevard and extending to near 11003 RR 2222, Austin. The project includes additional auxiliary lanes and raised medians with turn bays along RR 2222, extending from its intersection with the bypass to Ribelin Ranch Road. The entire bypass project, including the River Place Boulevard improvements is expected to cost $18 million. An environmental study has been completed for the bypass road but results of the environmental study for the RR 2222 section of the project have not been completed. Construction has not been funded.
• River Place Boulevard improvements: Additional lanes and a simultaneous turning pattern are proposed as part of the bypass project. An environmental study has been completed but construction has not been funded.
• RR 620 improvements: Additional lanes are proposed for RR 620 from US 183 to West Hwy. 71. A study of the proposal for RR 620 is being completed but construction has not been funded. The project is expected to cost about $50 million without the purchase of right-of-way to acquire the land for the extra lanes or the elevated roadway portion. The project can be ready to bid in the summer of 2018 and will take about 12-18 months to complete. The project has not been fully funded but Bee Cave and Lakeway have contributed monies toward the project.
The majority of the event's speakers supported proposed projects aimed at alleviating the traffic congestion in the area.
“My personal responsibility is to make sure that western Travis County gets the money it needs to make the improvements on [RR] 620,[RR] 2222, Loop 360, the "Y" at Oak Hill, [U.S] 290 [and] SH 45,” Rep. Paul Workman, R-Austin, said. “We have been working on this issue for several sessions and we will continue to do that.”
Precinct 2 Travis County Commissioner Brigid Shea said her precinct budget allocated some of the funding for the traffic signal to be constructed at the intersection of Steiner Ranch Boulevard and RR 620.
“The signal will hopefully improve getting in and out [of the neighborhood],” she said. “We also pushed to get the pedestrian crossing for the school.”
Brigid Shea, Precinct 2 Travis County Commissioner, told attendees that her district helped fund the traffic signal at Steiner Ranch Boulevard and RR 620 slated to be constructed this summer.[/caption]
Shea is on the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Board, and Jimmy Flannigan, a newly-elected Austin City Council Member, was appointed to the group Jan. 27. Jeff Travillion recently assumed the board position formerly held by Lakeway Mayor Joe Bain.
CAMPO controls the timing and some of the allocation of funds for projects in the region, including funding for construction of the bypass, Shea said.
“Twice now, [the bypass] has been taken out of the CAMPO budget, and out of the CAMPO sequencing, scheduling and planning,” she said. “In both instances I have not gotten good explanations for it.”
Shea said she had a follow-up meeting with TxDOT traffic engineer Terry McCoy, who committed to get the funding for the bypass project but did not have a specific timetable. She said nine intersection projects on Loop 360 received funding; however, RR 620 projects have not yet been funded.
“In addition to the city of Austin’s $7.5 million [2016 bond funds to be dedicated to projects in the RR 620 at RR 2222 corridor], our Austin District Engineer is very confident the remaining funding will be in place when needed and is working vigorously to ensure that,” TxDOT spokesperson Kelli Reyna said.
Although Flannigan—who represents District 6, which includes River Place and portions of RR 620 at RR 2222—cited challenges in addressing the district’s traffic concerns on state roads, he disagreed with a proposal that officials say would create an emergency access road within a federal utility easement from the joint Vandegrift High School and Four Points Middle School campuses. The schools, located at 9500 McNeil Drive, Austin, have only one access way and is surrounded by federal preserve land. The adjacent property, a 3M Company corporate site, is currently listed for sale.
“One of the other projects that is high on my list is to find some type of alleviation for the Vandegrift [High School], Four Points Middle School complex,” Flannigan said. "I think it is a good time to look for, if nothing else, a road easement. Whatever future property owner who takes over that [3M Company] land would be more easy to work with when we start talking about doing some connector roads [from the school complex]. And not a connector road through the [Balcones] Canyonland [Preserve]. That’s a ridiculous idea. You will never hear me speak of it again. No road through the canyonlands.”
