Mayor, neighborhood groups take action as decision on feasibility study nears
Tension is mounting between some residents and Lakeway city officials in western Travis County over a proposal to build a toll road as an alternative transportation route along the area's congested main roadway—RR 620.
Last year Lakeway proposed a toll road to connect RR 620 south of RR 2222 to SH 45 in Southwest Austin, forming a loop around the city of Austin, which staffers said would relieve traffic along RR 620.
Since then Lakeway requested the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization fund a $3 million study to determine the project's feasibility. CAMPO allocates funding for transportation projects in a six-county region, including Travis County, and is set to decide the fate of the toll road study's funding Nov. 10, after Community Impact Newspaper's publication date.
However, the proposed route of the road—through neighboring cities and preserve land—prompted one mayor and numerous neighborhood associations to protest the road's inclusion in CAMPO's 2040 long-range plan.
"While we agree that working toward a plausible solution to current traffic challenges is the right idea, we believe the elevated toll road ... is [in] the wrong location for a regional solution," Bee Cave Mayor Caroline Murphy wrote in an Oct. 3 letter to CAMPO Executive Committee Chairman Will Conley.
She cited the city's history of protecting the environmentally sensitive areas in its region—Little Barton Creek, the Edwards Aquifer Contributing Zone and the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve—and the proposal's effect on these areas as reason for opposing it. Murphy stated Bee Cave objects to Lakeway leading the project and requested her city be included in CAMPO's toll road decisions.
"If you are putting a road beside my city or in any city, you should get that city's input so the cities can collectively get together and put forth a project to the CAMPO Board," said Bee Cave City Councilwoman Michelle Bliss, the proponent of a city resolution opposing the project.
Grass-roots efforts
Grass-roots efforts sparked Barton Creek West homeowners to create a petition—which has more than 760 signatures—opposing the proposed toll road. The document states the project would run through existing neighborhoods and preserve land, require a bridge over Lake Austin, adversely affect residents' quality of life and lower property values in the community.
"I moved to western Travis County because of the greenbelt, dark skies [and] preserve," Senna Hills resident Scott McKenzie said. "The threat of Houston-izing or Dallas-izing the area is not appealing."
West Travis County residents formed the Stop the Toll Road! committee in early September to protest the project.
Resident Debbie Pojman said she advocates moving the proposed road to a site agreed upon by all communities.
"That's why we want to do the study—to identify and evaluate alternative [toll road] routes," Lakeway City Manager Steve Jones said. "It's [the route that] fixes the problem and is economically and environmentally viable."
Westlake Neighborhood Alliance member Susan Silberman said at the Oct. 13 CAMPO Transportation Policy Board meeting that she represents multiple neighborhoods whose residents are concerned about the environmental hazards of the proposed toll road. She said the board should "nip [the proposal] in the bud."
"If the project does not rank in allocation for funding, it's not nipped in the bud," Conley told Silberman.
He said Lakeway can fund the project's study itself.
Jones said Lakeway lacks the budget for a study and would ask the Texas Department of Transportation for funding if CAMPO declines to fund the study.
RR 620—congested or not?
Although 16 of the top 125 most congested road segments in the state are in the CAMPO region, RR 620 is not among them, Senior Planner Lisa Weston said of an Aug. 31 TxDOT report she presented at the Oct. 13 meeting.
Williamson County Commissioner Cynthia Long said the roadway had been on the list for a number of years.
"Wow, that's nice information, but the reality is we have to factor [RR 620] in any top 125 list," she said. "Anyone who travels [RR] 620 from [Hwy.] 71 to the toll road would agree that it is congested."
"My concern is if we use these reports to inform the public on how we fund things in the future, there has to be a reality check. You've got to add boots on the ground—people who drive through Steiner Ranch [on RR 620] in the morning—for the reality part."
A contrary report using 2012 data listed segments of RR 620 among the CAMPO region's top 50 congested roads.
The next step
If CAMPO votes to fund the toll road feasibility study, the next step—operating a toll road—can only be accomplished by TxDOT or the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority according to state law, Weston said.
"[The project] needs to find a sponsor because Lakeway will be hard-pressed to build a road that is not [located] in its jurisdiction," she said. "Austin and Travis County staff have expressed that they won't support Lakeway's toll road project due to feasibility and environmental issues."
