By Kim Hilsenbeck
More than two decades of talking about building State Highway (SH) 45 SW, which would connect south Mopac in Austin with Hays County near FM 1626 and Bliss Spillar, still has not produced a road.
But local leaders in Hays and Travis counties seem to think the third decade is the charm.
Travis County commissioners unanimously approved a resolution Oct. 22 in support of building the long-awaited connector as a 3.6-mile toll road.
Gerald Daughtery, who ran for Travis County Commissioner in 2012 on a platform of building the road, reminded the court of a stand-alone resolution, passed in 1995, in favor of building the road. At the time, the plan did not include tolled lanes.
Travis County Commissioners then voted in 1997 to purchase the right-of-way for the road’s construction, which received nearly 60 percent voter approval.
“This community understood how important this road was,” Daughtery said.
As part of his resolution, he said, “Travis County seeks to decrease traffic congestion and increase safety in our communities in southwest Travis County by enhancing, directing traffic flow from local neighborhood streets to a new controlled access major conduit for southwest Travis County.”
His resolution also included language intended to “protect sensitive water quality…in the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer recharge zone and endangered species habitat…using the latest environmental techniques.”
Hays County resident Sharon Wooner addressed the court during the public forum, saying, “I love it. I love the way that you read your resolution. To allow for environmental protections while it’s allowing road to be built which is really important. I’m from Kyle, Texas…I see the traffic [and] how bad it is. I try to avoid peak times. It’s a big mess.”
The proposed SH 45 SW has a long and checkered past, going on and off the CAMPO (Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization) radar since 1990. But cries from environmental groups, primarily Save Our Springs (SOS), derailed the project more than once.
That organization’s founder, Bill Bunch, says the road would cause irreparable damage to the sensitive Edward’s Aquifer recharge zone.
At the Oct. 22 Travis County Commissioners meeting, he chastised Daughtery for bringing a resolution in favor of building the proposed SH 45SW before the environmental studies are complete.
“You’re supposed to be bringing forward a report on how to do it environmentally sensitive and how to finance it,” Bunch said. “That’s not been done yet. That subcommittee or committee of CAMPO has been missing in action. It’s been in hiding. So I don’t know why you are asking your colleagues to bring this up at this time when you haven’t done the homework that you have set out to do. I think it’s unfortunate that you are doing that.”
Bunch and other SOSers, along with the Sierra Club, would rather see alternatives to building a new road, such as more commuters using Manchaca Road and South First to get to Austin. He also advocates carpooling and public transit options.
Another concern, Bunch said, is traffic being diverted off Interstate 35 north onto FM 1626 to get to SH 45 SW.
At a recent open house discussion hosted by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA), which took place prior to the Oct. 22 commissioners court meeting, about 250 residents of Travis and Hays counties took the opportunity to ask questions, see maps and share their ideas and concerns about SH 45SW.
Some attendees, like James Whited of Shady Hollow off of Brodie Lane, are not quite sure if they support the proposed road.
“I honestly don’t know,” he said in response to whether he supports SH 45SW. “Traffic is to the point where I don’t know how it could get much worse, honestly.”
He continued, “I don’t know how much relief it would actually bring.”
A man standing near him, Ron Rogerson of Shady Hollow, added, “If they don’t have a plan to fix south Mopac, [building the new road] probably isn’t going to work too good.”
Bumper-to-bumper traffic is notorious along Brodie Lane to South MoPac, with commuters sitting in miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic. In a recent trek to Austin, the roughly one-mile trip from Slaughter Lane to William Cannon Blvd. took a full 30 minutes.
Bunch shares those concerns about bringing even more traffic to the southern end of Mopac. Instead, he advocates making changes to Brodie Lane through Shady Hollow.
“To the extent we have problems with Brodie,” he told the commissioners court, “let’s fix Brodie. You don’t fix Brodie by building some other highway.”
Some area residents, like Whited and Bunch, are also concerned about the environmental impact of the road, specifically whether it would invite even more development.
“It seems to me [the new road] is going to bring more growth and more development to the area,” Whited said.
Carlos Swonke, TxDOT’s director of environmental affairs, answered Whited’s questions saying, “We can’t control who gets on to the right-of-way…so there are ways for development to happen in those parts that aren’t water quality protection lands. It’s not that we’re going to open up the access to SH 45.”
What’s been the real holdup to building this road?
Swonke said funding and the environmental process are the two biggest challenges to building the SH 45SW.
“Then there was some controversy, and then at some point, Travis County bought the right-of-way for it in that location. But then there were funding issues,” he said. “Up until mid-2000, there was just no funding available.”
That changed in 2012 when the powers that be decided to build it as a toll road.
“So all of a sudden we’ve got funding to build it,” Swonke said.
Back in the mid-1990s, Swonke said TxDOT did an environmental study for the old plans.
Would a new study find a different outcome?
“I mean the same environmental issues are there today. We’re dealing with water quality, is one of [the opposition’s] main things,” he said. “We’re dealing with some folks who just don’t want growth and don’t want the road. But it’s essentially the same subjects.”
“There does seem to be a lot of momentum,” he said of the plans this time.
The event organizers had oversized maps where attendees could use sticky notes to write their comments, concerns and questions.
Jim Dorsey, who has lived in Shady Hollow Estates for 26 years, wrote, “Protect school and neighborhood; don’t connect through neighborhood.” “Limit the access points along the way,” was his other note.
“So the idea is not to funnel traffic through all the neighborhoods,” he clarified.
Is he opposed to building the proposed road?
“No, I’m for the road.”
Lisa Grantham of Shady Hollow was completing one of the surveys; she said she supports the road. She doesn’t know of any neighbors who aren’t in favor of it.
Hays County Commissioner Pct. 2 Mark Jones said he thinks this time the road will go through.
“We’ve met twice monthly with TxDOT and CTRMA. I feel pretty confident,” he said.
Why build it as a toll road?
“We only get one bite at the apple,” he said. “[A toll road] was the only way to make it four lanes and build a bridge to Bliss Spillar.”
Jones said the projected cost to build the road is between $60 and $100 million.
“Hays County offered up $5 million,” according to Jones.
The cost of the toll for commuters between Hays and Travis counties is expected to be about $1 each way, he said.
As for the timeline, he said the environmental study is still about 12-18 months from being complete.
“The goal is to start construction in Nov. 2015 or possible as far out as 2017.”
“You can’t compare it from back then to now since plans are different,” he said.
“There does seem to be a lot of momentum,” he said of the plans this time.
TxDOT and CTRMA received about 470 comments in response to the open house, including many submitted via a website dedicated to the project.
Below are some of the common themes:
• SH 45SW is necessary; traffic congestion on Brodie, Manchaca and other local streets is terrible
•SH 45SW should have been built a long time ago
• SH 45SW would damage the environment; Edwards Aquifer/water quality concerns
• “There is no green toll road.”
• Building SH 45SW would increase traffic on MoPac
• Opposition to tolling
A final report will be ready in a few weeks according to Kelli Reyna, TxDOT spokesperson.
