The city of Austin Corridor Program Office in early August published the summary report of its public hearing for upcoming Burnet Road corridor improvements.
According to the report, city crews before the end of 2020 will break ground to begin improvements at the intersection of Burnet and Braker. Further construction along a stretch of Burnet from Koenig Lane to White Horse Trail is anticipated to begin a year later.
“Our goal is to have construction of the improvements done prior to the planned Austin FC home opener,” said Dea Crichton, public information and communications manager for the corridor program office, in an email to Community Impact Newspaper. “We also continue to work with Austin FC to ensure that our mobility and safety improvements are coordinated with their construction plans.”
Improvement work at the Burnet and Braker intersection could be underway as soon as October, Crichton said. That would leave city crews about a six-month window to finish construction work if Austin FC plays its inaugural home match in March 2021.
The first phase of construction at the Burnet and Braker intersection will include traffic signal upgrades, installations of raised medians at all approaches to the intersection, pavement work and drainage system upgrades. City documents show shared-use sidewalks and protected bike lanes will be built around the intersection.
In coordination with Capital Metro, the corridor program office will also relocate two bus stops to westbound Braker Lane and southbound Burnet Road.
Capital Metro’s most recent Project Connect plans show the regional transit agency plans to build a new MetroRail station at McKalla Place. Crichton said the construction of that station is not included in the current improvement plans.
“We are coordinating closely with [Capital Metro] with an eye toward multimodal connectivity between the station and the [Burnet] corridor,” Crichton said.
Koenig Lane to White Horse Trail
Mobility and safety improvements running a quarter-mile stretch down Burnet from Koenig to White Horse are likely to begin sometime in fall 2021, documents from the city of Austin show.
Similar to the construction scheduled at Burnet and Braker, the corridor program office plans to install a series of mobility and safety improvements along the roadway.
Documents show the city plans to upgrade traffic signals at Koenig and Romeria Drive and install a pedestrian crosswalk signal at White Rock Drive.
Roadway access to White Rock will be adjusted. The city plans to take out the acceleration lane into White Rock and install a greenscape with pedestrian improvements, according to planning documents.
Current plans for this corridor work further includes construction of shared-use sidewalks and protected bike lanes. Two bus stops will be relocated along southbound Burnet at the intersections of White Horse and Allandale Road.
The construction of these improvements is anticipated to begin in late 2021, Crichton said, and will likely last a year.
