At an open house Oct. 22, Oak Hill residents shared their feedback on the newest potential solution introduced as part of Oak Hill Parkway, the environmental study process for a possible project to relieve traffic congestion at the Y at Oak Hill.

The Central Texas Mobility Authority and Texas Department of Transportation have tweaked the concepts and options they introduced in May as potential choices. Reactions to the newest concept—Concept F, a design featuring minimal frontage roads—were mixed.

James Williams, TxDOT's project manager for Oak Hill Parkway, said the transportation authorities developed Concept F after hearing from a group of local citizens.

"One of the things they said was, 'We don't want to see continuous frontage roads' ... and then also [they wanted] a smaller footprint in some areas," he said. The design would also add some turnaround roads to enable Oak Hill drivers to avoid Hwy. 290's main lanes, he said.

Fix290 Coalition—an organization that has been advocating for turning Hwy. 290 into an on-the-ground freeway without signals or tolls since about 2005 in response to an earlier TxDOT plan for an elevated toll road—was among the group of people asking TxDOT and the Mobility Authority to design a new concept, TxDOT spokeswoman Kelli Reyna said.

Paul and Charlene Hawkins are not affiliated with Fix290 but said Concept F is the best road design they've seen so far. The couple has lived in Oak Hill for more than 15 years and said some neighborhood associations have delayed solutions, allowing congestion to worsen with time.

"It's time for us—people who want progress to be made—to start being as loud as those other folks, because we need change, and we need [to improve] traffic," Paul Hawkins said.

Longtime resident Leslie Oglesby, on the other hand, said he thinks local environmentalists are trying to delay the environmental study process with Concept F.

"It's Project F because it's a failure," he said. "To try and eliminate the few access roads [and] to tie up the traffic on the only major highway leaving Austin going west is ridiculous. It's absolutely just to tie it up like they did a few years ago when they kept the highway department from building it the last time. They don't want it built."

Concept D, which features express lanes on Hwy. 290, is a more appealing option to former Travis County Commissioner Johnny Voudouris, who said he would combine it with Option 1 to extend the west transition past Circle Drive and improve safety.

"Taking it past Circle Drive and putting in an overpass in there will eliminate a lot [of accidents]," he said.

There were 304 crashes on Hwy. 290 and Hwy. 71 between 2009 and 2011, according to TxDOT data.

Based on community feedback, TxDOT and the Mobility Authority also introduced Option 2, which would provide a westbound Hwy. 290 exit ramp connecting to FM 1826 to provide better access to the Austin Community College Pinnacle campus.

"We're hoping to get a lot of feedback on all these concepts," Williams said, noting all comments will be taken into consideration.

Reyna said the public has the opportunity to learn more about the project, view concepts and evaluation criteria, and provide feedback as part of a virtual open house at www.oakhillparkway.com until Nov. 1. In the meantime, TxDOT started work in September on the second phase of interim improvements to provide temporary traffic relief at the Y at Oak Hill. Reyna said lanes will remain open as much as possible, and any lane closures will take place between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.