Project to update local road could wrap up by August

A $4.5 million project to widen part of Davis Lane and realign the intersection of Davis and Brodie lanes to ease traffic at that intersection is about 40 percent complete, according to George Jackson, project manager with the city of Austin's Public Works Department.

In June, Austin City Council approved a $4.5 million contract for Smith Contracting Co. to work on the project, which will widen Davis Lane from two to four lanes east of Corran Ferry Drive. Workers will also add bicycle lanes and sidewalks there to increase multimodal transportation options, Program Coordinator Susan Garnett said.

The project also includes adding a traffic signal and left-turn lane for drivers to turn from northbound Brodie Lane onto Davis, Jackson said. The council also approved building a 0.8-mile extension of Davis Lane to establish a four-way intersection at Brodie Lane.

Jackson said the Davis project originally started a few years ago but stalled because of the need for a study on how runoff from the road would affect the nearby Goat Cave Karst Nature Preserve.

"That depended on the rain, and so that took about a year to get that study done. It was completed last spring, and that allowed us to go ahead and do the bidding at that point," he said.

Work began Sept. 19, Garnett said.

The target completion timeline is the end of August, Jackson said.

"You should see better traffic flow, less congestion on the road and it should be a lot safer," Jackson said.