Cedar Park has new written guidelines for planning proposed road and intersection changes during the next 20 years after City Council approved an updated transportation master plan Feb. 12. The plan includes general timetables and cost estimates for projects that could help the city prepare for population growth and traffic congestion. City staffers said the projects could cost $136.3 million through 2035. However, the proposed road improvements could save the community about $460 million in anticipated costs related to traffic congestion, Assistant City Manager Sam Roberts said Feb. 12. The projects could reduce by about 50 percent the projected increases of vehicle wait times at city intersections—delays that two reports estimate cost a community $17.70 per hour, he said. “When you compare [$136.3 million] to a $460 million projected savings, that’s a three-to-one return on investment,” Roberts said. City staffers drafted the transportation plan with help from consultants at Austin-based HDR Engineering. The projects’ estimated cost is based on HDR’s analyses of data using current traffic measurements and future extrapolations of travel delay time at city intersections. On Jan. 8, Roberts said the plan includes a balance of traditional improvements, such as road widening and turn lane additions, with innovative concepts. For example, the city can plan a traditional project to widen Anderson Mill Road to four lanes. But the city can also plan an innovative project to remodel the junction of Bell and Whitestone boulevards with a partial continuous-flow intersection, similar to the current project to remodel the Parmer Lane/Whitestone intersection, HDR Engineering Vice President Rashed Islam said. The master plan divides recommended projects in three categories—short-term projects, some of which the city is already pursuing; mid-term projects, which could begin in several years; and long-term projects, which could be more expensive and could take decades to begin. Islam said many of the recommended projects are on Cedar Park’s major roadways, which include Bell and Lakeline boulevards, New Hope Drive and Whitestone. For example, the city could extend New Hope from its current end at east Cottonwood Creek Trail to meet Ronald Reagan Boulevard. The plan also recommends widening Parmer Lane from four to six lanes. Further in the future, the city could build an overpass at the Bell/Cypress Creek intersection and extend Little Elm Trail from Bell to Toll 183A, Roberts said Feb. 12. To fund the projects, Islam recommended city leaders consider including road projects in an upcoming bond proposal. Funding for road projects may be discussed by the city’s bond task force committee, which City Council appointed in February. Members will research possible projects and amounts for a new city bond that could go before voters in November. The committee is expected to present its bond proposal by spring. Islam said the city can also pay for projects with funds from the city’s Economic Development Corp. or 4A Board, and the city’s Community Development Corp., or 4B Board. For more funding, the city can also continue to partner with other agencies, he said, such as the Texas Department of Transportation and the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. “That [partnership] needs to be coordinated so that [you] always have an advantage in getting funds from CAMPO and other resources,” Islam said.