The Texas Department of Transportation, in partnership with the city of Austin, is working to upgrade 10 different intersections along the Loop 360 corridor. The agency is planning five projects on the highway, which spans 14 miles between US 183 to the north to Hwy. 290 and SH 71 to the south.
Each project targets two key intersections and will take two to three years to complete once construction begins. Additionally, each project will require a new funding request from the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, or CAMPO, in order for the project to move forward.
The total cost of all five projects will be approximately $500 million, said Bradley Wheelis, public information officer for TxDOT. The majority of the funds come from CAMPO, with about $40 million coming from the 2016 Austin Mobility Bond.
Loop 360 has severe traffic congestion and long wait times, which can cause safety and mobility concerns, said Lucas Short, TxDOT program manager for Loop 360. Wheelis said he wanted to make sure people understood that much of Loop 360 would still be accessible during construction.
“We appreciate people’s patience and we will continue to update people through email, tweets and any other communication to always keep the public up to date,” he said.
First project underway
The first of the five Loop 360 projects began in June at the intersections of Westlake Drive and Cedar Street just south of the Pennybacker Bridge. As of press time Nov. 7, crews have begun setting concrete barriers along northbound Loop 360, which will reduce shoulder width from Bold Ruler Way to Cedar Street.
The main focus of the Westlake Drive/Cedar Street project is improving the intersections by removing traffic signals on the Loop 360 main lanes. Construction crews will also add an underpass where the main lanes go under the cross streets, according to TxDOT officials.
“In the planning stages of trying to figure out the best solution to solve our congestion issues on 360, we found that removing the stoplights at the 10 intersections greatly improves the flow of traffic,” Short said.
In addition, the hope behind adding the over- and underpasses to the intersections is to separate the through traffic from the local traffic, Wheelis said.
Each of the five projects will have three to four phases that will take two to three years total, depending on weather and funding, Short said.
The Westlake Drive/Cedar Street project has four phases and is in Phase 1, which is slated to go through October 2023.
After looking at car volume and different scenarios for construction, the Loop 360 study concluded planned projects will reduce peak morning traffic to 23.6 minutes for the northbound loop and 28 minutes for the southbound loop of the entire Loop 360 corridor. Peak evening traffic will be 23.1 minutes for the northbound loop and 24 for the southbound loop, the study showed.
Impact to residents
Business owners around the Loop 360 construction hotspots had mixed feelings about the project.
Cathy Conway, a broker associate for Stanberry & Associates Realtors, has an office and lives near Loop 360. She said her main concern is that driving around the Pennybacker Bridge is already difficult, because it only has two lanes going in each direction.
“In the last five years that area has become unmanageable,” she said. “What is it going to look like when it’s under construction?”
However, Conway said she believes it is a necessary project, and only wishes it had been done years ago.
While some residents, such as Conway, see the need for improvement, others are worried about the impact to businesses and transportation.
Caitlin Sansing runs her family’s business, Northwest Hills Pharmacy, in Davenport Village off Loop 360. She said they can offer delivery, but they are concerned about traffic times for their drivers.
“My biggest concern is for people who will have trouble getting to our pharmacy to get their medication,” Sansing said. “It’s just going to get worse before it gets better.”
Anna Bauereis, executive director of Brain Balance, which has a location off Loop 360, said she did not pay too much attention to traffic until her son, 14-year-old Alexei Bauereis, was killed trying to cross the intersection at Spicewood Springs and Rustic Rock Drive in northwest Austin in 2016. Now, she said her main concern is people getting safely to their destination.
“There’s just more people on the roads now,” Bauereis said. “I believe TxDOT is doing this [Loop 360 project] to make the roads less congested and safer for everyone.”
Looking to the future
After the Westlake Drive/Cedar Street project is complete, the second project is set for Courtyard Drive and RM 2222 just north of the Pennybacker Bridge, with construction planned to start in 2026. Out of the remaining four projects, Courtyard Drive/RM 2222 is the only other loop project that has funding, Wheelis said.
For a project to receive funding, it must be “shovel-ready,” Short said. This means a project has gone through a feasibility study where the need is identified, environmental impacts are considered, and the project is presented to the public. After that, utilities in the area must be relocated. Once all those steps are complete, the project is ready for construction, he said.
However, funding resources are limited; if another project for a different roadway section in Austin is shovel-ready before a Loop 360 project, that project will get priority funding, Wheelis said.
Improvements at Courtyard Drive/RM 2222 include removing the signal on the Courtyard main lanes and replacing it with an underpass where the Loop 360 main lanes go under the cross street. RM 2222 will get a new diverging diamond interchange, or DDI, which works by shifting traffic temporarily to the left. This allows through-traffic and left-turning traffic to proceed through the intersection simultaneously, eliminating the need for a left-turn arrow.
The third and fourth projects at Lakewood Drive/Spicewood Springs Road and MoPac to RM 2244/Bee Caves Road, respectively, are still contingent on funding, Wheelis said. Both projects consist of improvements at intersections by removing the traffic signals on the Loop 360 main lanes and adding overpasses at Lakewood Drive, Spicewood Springs Road and Walsh Tarlton Lane, as well as under- or overpasses at Lost Creek Boulevard and Westbank Drive.
The fifth project, Loop 360 at RM 2244, will involve redoing the intersection. This will likely involve the addition of a diverging diamond interchange, Short said. The project is still contingent on funding.
“We don’t want to sugarcoat this. Anytime we start a construction project we want folks to know there are going to be traffic pattern changes and congestion,” Short said.
