Hays County commissioners approve TxDOT partnership

The first project discussed during the presentation was FM 110, which will connect Hwy. 123 and Yarrington Road, creating an eastern loop around San Marcos.

Weaver said because FM 110 could be a catalyst to economic development on San Marcos' east side, the county could pay for the road using a transportation reinvestment zone, or TRZ. The county could use the increased values of property within half a mile on either side of the road to repay TxDOT.

Weaver called the idea a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to finish a project that has been talked about for almost 40 years.

San Marcos City Council voted Feb. 5 to participate in a study with the county that will determine how much economic development could occur along the FM 110 route, and, therefore, how much tax revenue the city and county could expect to reap. The total cost of the study will be $110,000, and each entity's share will be $55,000.

The presentation also included a truck bypass that would connect FM 1626 with I-35, relieving Buda's downtown of commercial trucks. During public input meetings to develop the city's Comprehensive Master Plan, 93 percent of Buda residents indicated that diverting semitrailer traffic from downtown was either "important" or "very important."

"As time goes on, if we don't do this, the traffic within those residential neighborhoods of Buda, [residents] are just going to be overwhelmed," Precinct 2 Commissioner Mark Jones said.

The other road projects included in the plan are FM 150 in Kyle; FM 2001 and FM 967 in Buda; and Posey Road, RM 12 and the I-35 northbound ramps in San Marcos.