SH 45 SW, the long-anticipated and controversial roadway linking Loop 1 in Southwest Austin to FM 1626 in Hays County, inched closer to construction in late January.

The Texas Department of Transportation released its final environmental impact statement, or EIS, for the project Jan. 23. The statement endorses building SH 45 SW, a four-lane, limited-access connector tollway as the preferred alternative to address local transportation needs.

According to the EIS executive summary, one of the main differences between the draft EIS, released in 2014, and the final EIS is the relocation of the road away from the environmentally sensitive Flint Ridge Cave.

The final step needed to complete the environmental study is for Carlos Swonke, TxDOT Environmental Affairs Division director, to sign a Record of Decision on or after Feb. 23, after Community Impact Newspaper went to press.

Prior to Feb. 23, Swonke declined to say if he planned to sign the document, but said the EIS addressed the study's requirements.

"We have vetted the issues and sweated the issues," he said. "We are looking at a document that is 3,000 pages in length. We have studied the project and the impact of the project very thoroughly and turned over all of the stones."

If Swonke signs the document, the project is turned over to the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, which will oversee final design and construction.

The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, the group responsible for coordinating area transportation work, estimates SH 45 SW will cost $100 million to build. Travis and Hays counties, the Mobility Authority and a CAMPO grant will fund the project.

Background

In the 1980s, SH 45 SW was part of a non-tolled loop concept that would have encircled Austin. The concept later dissolved into separate projects.

In 1997, Travis County voters approved $3.3 million in road bonds to buy the right of way for SH 45 SW. The project then stalled for years because of a variety of environmental, political and funding issues.

However, in 2014, Travis County Commissioners Court approved partnering with Hays County and the Mobility Authority to fund the road.

Changes to the EIS

Much of the EIS information has remained the same from the draft document to the final version, Swonke said.

"I think in some of the draft, we had relied upon some reports that were ongoing," he said. "We had the information, but we didnt have the reports completed. Those completed reports are in the final EIS."

In the final EIS, TxDOT states it realigned the proposed path of SH 45 SW to avoid and minimize effects to sensitive karst features in the roads right of way. Karsts are geological passageways through which groundwater can recharge an aquifer.

Flint Ridge Cave is the fifth-largest and second-deepest cave in Travis County, according to the final EIS. It is a significant recharge feature and has a ground-level entrance 150 feet away from the right of way for SH 45 SW.

Swonke called Flint Ridge Cave a "lightning rod" for the project.

TxDOT had originally placed SH 45 SW in the middle of the 360-foot right of way, Swonke said.

"We moved it over and away from Flint Ridge Cave to the opposite edge of the right of way," he said. "It gave us a little more of a buffer between the lane and Flint Ridge Cave."

The movement was within the right of way but made a difference to the footprint of the cave. That is the main design change.

Swonke said the final EIS also reconfigures SH 45 SW's proposed connection to MoPac to increase safety.

The final EIS also includes a connection to the proposed multi-useViolet Crown Trail, said Lucas Short, Austin District SH 45 SW project engineer. TxDOT worked with the city of Austin and local nonprofit Hill Country Conservancy on that aspect of the EIS.

"We all agree [the MoPac intersection of SH 45 SW] would be a good place to put a trailhead," Short said.

Next steps

In October the Mobility Authority approved a $7 million contract with Rodriguez Transportation Group Inc. for professional design services. So far only schematic designs have been completed.

Funding for the projects estimated $100 million cost would come from several sources:

• The Mobility Authority would borrow $48 million from the State Infrastructure Bank;


• CAMPO would produce a$32 million grant;


• Travis County would issue$15 million in bonds;


• and Hays County would contribute $5 million.

The Mobility Authority's loan would be paid back using toll revenue over the course of the next 20 to 30 years, Manager of Communications Rick L'Amie said.