State backs project in draft environmental study
By Joe Olivieri
The Texas Department of Transportation will recommend building the SH 45 SW tollway as its preferred solution to addressing south Austin traffic congestion, TxDOT officials told Community Impact Newspaper.
The recommendation is part of a roughly 1,000-page draft environmental impact statement, or EIS, slated for release June 27.
"Although the draft EIS identifies a preferred alternative, the final selection... would only occur after a public comment period including a public hearing, consideration of comment and an evaluation of environmental effects," according to a TxDOT statement.
The draft executive summary, obtained by Community Impact Newspaper, touches on the environmental, social and economic consequences of building the long-delayed project.
SH 45 SW is a proposed four-lane, 3.6-mile-long limited access tollway connecting MoPac to FM 1626 in Hays County. It is estimated to cost $70 million–$100 million.
Identifying need
The executive summary of the draft EIS lays out why SH 45 SW is being proposed.
"The purpose of [SH 45 SW] is to improve system connectivity, local mobility and travel time while providing an effective alternative route to congested local roadways in northern Hays and southern Travis counties," it states.
It goes on to say that existing routes within the area are less direct and require drivers to pass through numerous signalized intersections, also increasing travel times. Population growth is expected to make congestion worse if current transportation conditions remain in place, according to the document (see sidebar).
Options
In reviewing the situation, TxDOT initially considered several options, including upgrading one or more existing roadways and building a new tollway. TxDOT narrowed down the options studied to two possibilities: the current proposal for SH 45 SW—a new tollway on existing state-owned right of way—and a no-build option.
The no-build option assumes all of the other improvements in the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization 2035 Regional Transportation Plan are built.
"Although it does not meet the proposed project's purpose and need, the no-build alternative was carried through the environmental impact analysis to assess the impacts of no action," the document states.
SH 45 SW as designed
SH 45 SW as currently envisioned would have 12-foot-wide lanes and 10-foot-wide shoulders as well as a 10-foot-wide bicycle and pedestrian shared-use path running the length of the project.
TxDOT identified building SH 45 SW as the preferred alternative because it met the stated purpose and need, incorporates water quality protection measures "that exceed the requirements of the Edwards Aquifer rules," incorporates eco-friendly design features, includes multimodal elements, does not include frontage roads and minimizes the effect on
geographic features. It also avoids affecting neighborhoods and public facilities by building in the state-owned right-of-way, it states.
"The point that is often missed is that for many years, this project has come under a lot of environmental scrutinty," said Carlos Swonke, director of TxDOT's Environmental Affairs Division. "We—TxDOT and the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority—have worked hard to produce an environmentally friendly project, doing the best we can to not just meet the letter of the law for protecting the environment, but going above and beyond."
Growth and finances
Building SH 45 SW is not expected to induce significant growth along the corridor because of the limited-access design and large amount of protected land surrounding the project, according to the draft EIS.
"... Several planning professionals (such as the city of Austin and Travis County) acknowledge that the Austin area's already high rate of growth overall makes determining the extent to which the proposed project would specifically affect development difficult, and that the proposed project's impact on development would likely be minimal given the high rate of growth overall," the draft states.
Next steps
After the draft document is published, TxDOT and the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority will listen to public comments, starting with a meeting the evening of July 29 at Bowie High School, 4013 Slaughter Lane.
The comments will be addressed and incorporated into the final version of the document, which is expected to be approved in January.
From there, the Mobility Authority will move forward with bidding and awarding a contractor for the project while the roadway's design is finalized, Swonke said.
This is Part 1 of a two-part series.
