Will Conley, CAMPO policy board chair and a Hays County commissioner, directed board members—including Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt, Burnet County Judge James Oakley, Travis County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty and Terry McCoy, Austin district engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation—June 6 to discuss moving forward with a draft study area for the Midwest Subregional Study in eastern Burnet, western Travis and southwestern Williamson counties before the next agency meeting on July 11.
In 2015, the board allocated $750,000 to study east-west mobility issues in western Travis County. The study area grew to include southwestern Williamson County and eastern Burnet County. A rough draft of the study area indicates a boundary of Loop 360, US 183, RM 1431, Hwy. 281 and Hwy. 71.
Board members also discussed the Midwest Subregion Study at the May 9 meeting. Members also expressed concern about ensuring the study would not duplicate existing studies by TxDOT.
Differing viewpoints
Oakley said he added the item the board's June 6 agenda to determine the status of the study approved in 2015 and encompassed the western part of CAMPO from Dripping Springs to Leander and "the western growth corridor” where a lot of development is occurring. He said movement on the study has stalled.
“We have corridors [in the subregion] that are being highly utilized," he said. "Most of the sections do not have center turn lanes where we have rear end fatalities and we have nothing but traffic counts going up,” he said. “So this is a safety concern.
“You’ve got [RM] 1431, you have Lakeway on [RR] 620 which is a parking lot mornings and evenings. You have Liberty Hill, which was just recently named one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation with a population over 15,000. ... There’s a lot of things happening out that way.”
Eckhardt said she was concerned the subregional study would duplicate other studies being performed by TxDOT in the area on RR 620 and Loop 360 as well as Travis County's Land, Transportation and Water Plan. She said the agency would be better off waiting until the TxDOT studies are complete and then look at prioritizing funding for the department’s proposal.
“If you look at the scoping document [for the CAMPO subregional study], it is duplicative to what TxDOT already has in the field in large measure,” Eckhardt said. “And to the extent it’s not duplicative, it’s duplicative to [Travis County’s] Land, Water, Transportation Plan.”
She suggested creating a comprehensive document to study all CAMPO subregions, not the Midwest Subregional area, and advocated using the subregional study financing money instead to perform a study of arterial roads that have not received focus from TxDOT, such as the MoKan corridor in eastern Travis County.
“What I’m looking for is to come up with a proposal for a scoping document that is duplicatable across the CAMPO region so this won’t be a one-shot deal for the western subregion,” Eckhardt said.
McCoy said the recommendations for RR 620 are being finalized and the recommendations for Loop 360 are nearly complete.
Conley stressed the importance of Travis County and other cities or areas working collaboratively on the study scope.
Lakeway Mayor Joe Bain, a CAMPO policy board member, said he will continue to push for the study “because we need help in the western part of the CAMPO region.”
“What we’ve got is a deal that was made and we’re at the point now that there is one or two people who are holding out against doing what the deal was,” he said. “What the CAMPO chairman said is if the county doesn’t go along with it, there’s no reason to do the study.”
RR 620 bypass removed from draft TIP
CAMPO board members also discussed the draft 2017-20 Transportation Improvement Program list of projects. CAMPO must submit a new TIP every four years that lists projects that might receive federal funding or are considered regionally significant. Projects must be listed in the TIP before moving forward with construction, CAMPO Executive Director Ashby Johnson previously told Community Impact Newspaper.
Omitted from the 2017-20 TIP is the proposed RR 620 bypass at RR 2222 in western Travis County that would allow RR 620 traffic to bypass the intersection at RR 2222. The news surprised Travis County Pct. 2 Commissioner Brigid Shea, whose precinct includes the area west of Loop 360 and neighborhoods near RR 620.
“I was told that that project was proceeding,” she said. “If we are looking at prioritizing projects that relieve congestion, that should be near the top of the list. Can you imagine a project that would be more helpful in relieving congestion at an intersection than that? And now it is taken off the list? I am stunned to find out it has been taken off the table.”
Charlie Watts, a Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources planner, said his department is working with TxDOT on the bypass, but it is not to design level yet and the alignment of the project remains to be determined.
McCoy said the fact that the RR 620/2222 bypass project is not in the TIP at this time does not mean it cannot be added later.
“We have not specifically identified the source of construction funds at this time, but we are working with our local transportation partners to accomplish this,” he said. “Our job right now is to get this project ready for construction. We have to environmentally clear the project, acquire right-of-way, move utilities, etc. and we are actively working on these items.”
The CAMPO policy board is slated to approve the 2017-20 TIP at a special-called July 6 meeting to submit the TIP to TxDOT by July 7. An online open house for residents to weigh in on the TIP is open through 5 p.m. June 29. Visit www.campotexas.org/get-involved for more information.
