Building the extensions
The half-mile extension of Rivery will extend the roadway from its north terminus at Williams to a new intersection with Northwest. The new roadway segment will include four traffic lanes with a divided median as well as a traffic circle at the intersection of Park Lane. Completing the $5.1 million project, which is expected by next summer, will pave the way for the new overpass bridge. An additional traffic circle at Northwest will mark the future northern terminus of Rivery. The overpass bridge construction, along with several related road projects, will start following the completion of the Rivery extension. The overpass project is estimated to cost about $12.4 million. Georgetown will manage construction of the overpass, but the project requires approval of site plans and inspection reports by the Texas Department of Transportation for the portion of the project that crosses I-35, Polasek said. TxDOT’s role involves planning oversight and coordination of traffic control and lane closures, said Bobby Ramthun, a Georgetown-area engineer for TxDOT. Some nightly lane closures are likely while the bridge is under construction. TxDOT will also administer a related project to realign the intersection of FM 971 and North Austin Avenue to the east of I-35, Polasek said. The project will replace an existing and somewhat disjointed intersection that should improve safety for drivers, he said. “It helps with sight distance; it helps with [a driver’s] ability to see the whole intersection when they’re going through,” Polasek said about the new intersection. Since part of the extension of Rivery runs through property owned by Georgetown ISD, the district has worked with the city throughout the project’s planning process. The overpass bridge will also create a new east-to-west route to Georgetown High School on North Austin and an additional route for GISD school buses traveling across I-35, according to Kirby Campbell, GISD’s transportation director. GISD has about 102 school bus routes that use Lakeway Boulevard, located north of Northwest, to cross I-35. Re-routing some of those buses across the future overpass bridge should help decrease traffic around Lakeway, Campbell said. Both road extension projects combined are designed to improve accessibility and travel for businesses and residents along the Rivery corridor, Polasek said. A concept for the Rivery extension was initially developed more than a decade ago by members of the Georgetown Transportation Enhancement Corp. to support anticipated business and development growth along the roadway, he added. Since then the area has seen several major developments, including the Summit at Rivery Park and the Sheraton Austin Georgetown Hotel & Conference Center along Rivery. Polasek said he anticipates Rivery could eventually extend farther north all the way to Airport Road near the Georgetown Municipal Airport, depending on the growth of future development in the area and funding availability. The 2015 road bond does not include plans to extend Rivery beyond Northwest.A “contract with voters” approved as part of the 2015 bond set maximum property tax increases at 2 cents annually and 10 cents cumulatively through the lifespan of the bond sales, both per $100 of valuation.
The city estimated in 2015 that the owner of a home valued at $210,000, which was Georgetown’s average home value used by the city at the time, would cumulatively pay $252 in additional property tax to cover the bond sales. The tax impact estimate was subject to change based on future home values and market conditions, according to the city.
