The Airport Road widening project is completed about six months ahead of schedule.

The city of Georgetown held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Jan. 4 to celebrate the expansion project that created two northbound lanes, two southbound lanes, a center turn lane and a traffic signal on Lakeway Drive and Airport Road, east of the Georgetown Municipal Airport.

“This [was] a partnership,” Mayor Dale Ross said. “We always talk about partnerships and this … is a great example of how cities, utilities and roadways are directly linked to high-quality development.”

The road expansion—which covered 3,400 linear feet of roadway—also included sidewalks, drainage improvements, driveways, wastewater line extensions and utility crossings to accommodate future expected growth, Ross said.

The $2.4 million project broke ground June 2018 and was expected to be completed by summer 2019. The expansion was done as part of an economic development agreement between the city and Holt Cat, a heavy equipment retail and rental company that is building a 85,000-square-foot facility off Airport Road. Construction on the facility is expected to finish by mid-2019.

“[The] work was done ahead of the growth,” Ross said. “A lot of the time there [are] cities and counties that do the work after the growth is already here. In Georgetown, we’re trying to be ahead of the curve.”