At its July 19 meeting, Hutto City Council voted to adopt updated documents for the city’s wastewater and mobility plans, as well as the city’s first-ever drainage master plan.
The planning documents, presented alongside Hutto’s five-year Capital Improvement Project (CIP) plan, are designed to outline Hutto’s needed infrastructure projects and funding for the coming decades.
“It’s a multiyear, multiphase effort,” said Hutto City Manager Odis Jones, who
received a new contract July 19. “Every year we’re going to have to pick some projects we want to go out and do.”
DRAINAGE
The drainage master plan, the first planning document of its kind for the city of Hutto, was included in last year’s CIP document and was designed by Hejl, Lee and Associates Inc. The plan proposes $32.23 million in drainage infrastructure projects, most of which is dedicated to work on Cottonwood Creek.
The Cottonwood Creek work, as outlined by the drainage plan, includes widening the creek bed from 30 feet to 90 feet. The project is designed to mitigate potential flooding problems that were experienced during the 2015 Memorial Day flood.
Funding for drainage projects could possibly come from the city’s new drainage fee,
which was implemented in January. That fee, according to Hejl, Lee and Associates, will help to provide recurring drainage maintenance.
WASTEWATER AND MOBILITY
The bulk of proposed funding comes from the city’s wastewater and mobility plans. Combined, the two master plans call for more than $224 million in projects necessary to the city’s infrastructure layout.
Two wastewater projects account for nearly half of the entire proposed wastewater funding listed in the updated master plan. Expansion of the Central Wastewater Treatment Plan will cost the city $29.4 million, according to DCS and Associates Inc., the company brought on by the city to design the wastewater master plan.
Hutto will additionally need to construct a wastewater interceptor on CR 3349 for $25.2 million. DSC outlined all of the wastewater projects should be constructed in the coming decade.
The new mobility master plan lists 176 potential projects — both inside city limits and out — that Hutto should prioritize in order to upgrade its transportation system. That list includes roadway projects, pedestrian and bike projects, railroad improvements and transit projects.
“It’s a very long list of every project that you need to grow,” said Carl Springer, president of DKS Associates. DKS Associates was hired by the city to design Hutto’s mobility master plan.
The new mobility master plan outlines $112.35 million of transportation projects needed inside city limits. The five most expensive projects listed — including extensions to Carl Stern Drive, CR 108 and FM 1660 — account for $41.15 million in proposed funding.
DKS Associates additionally proposes spending $15 million on public transit options, including an express route to Austin and service to the Tech Ridge Area as well as a Hwy. 79 service route.
Improvements on the railroad total $600,000 and the plan proposes $15 million in alternative transportation projects, such as pedestrian and biking pathways.
