Brittany Kelley
SAN MARCOS — Transportation leaders throughout Central Texas discussed ongoing projects and the importance of economic development at the Infrastructure Summit Wednesday, March 4.
The event, hosted by the San Marcos Area Chamber of Commerce and the Hays Caldwell Economic Development Partnership, featured: Will Conley of American Structurepoint; Ruben Becerra, Hays County Judge; Steven Alvis, Texas Transportation commissioner; Charles Benavidez, Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) San Antonio district engineer; Tucker Ferguson, TxDOT Austin district engineer; Morgan Hammer, Hays County commissioner; Cynthia Long, Williamson County commissioner; Ed Theriot, Caldwell County commissioner; and Mike Trimble, city of Kyle director of Transportation and Public Works.
In his opening statement, Becerra noted that the more the county plans, coordinates and strategizes, the better the community will be.
This led into the Fireside Chat: Building Strategic Partnerships with TxDOT, where Alvis stated that TxDOT is funded well, allowing them to build projects in Texas that are innovative, as “there’s nothing else like it in the rest of the country; it’s not even close.” According to Alvis, the city of Austin currently has $3.1 billion under construction, while the city of San Antonio has $5.6 billion, which is more than 20 states in the nation have.
“Texas is very unique. There are so many tools in the toolbox for economic development,” said Alvis. “All you county officials, city officials, look at your permitting program [and] look at your land plan approval programs. When a big opportunity comes to you: react, meet them at the front door with a permit.”
Despite large companies, such as Tesla, making their way to Central Texas, Alvis did note that a statewide problem occurring is the affordable housing crisis. This issue has caused corporate headquarters to choose other states as their base location.
“You don’t get the Teslas unless you create good housing for all the employees and keep that affordable housing in expansion, rip away regulations,” he said. “You’ve got all those tools in your toolbox to help manage the growth that stays rolling toward you. The growth is going to come whether you manage it or not. It’s up to us to manage it and make it happen, so having those partnerships with us at TxDOT only makes sense.”
Ferguson echoed this sentiment by stating that the investment in transportation in fast-growing counties, like Hays County, is important. Specifically, he praised the innovation that the county has done with bond and finance programs, such as acquiring Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) and federal funds, which has been "amazing."
“We’ve even done workshops within our district for some of our other counties to come in and learn from Hays and Williamson counties, to learn from them what they’ve done and that’s being replicated,” said Ferguson.
Continuing on Hays County, he shared that the bond program certificates that have occurred has allowed the roads to be put on the state system again, including IH-35, RM 150, FM 1626 and FM 2001. Each of these projects attracted businesses on the IH-35 corridor.
The engineer also stated that Hays County’s cooperation with TxDOT over the years has allowed the county to aid in construction of FM 110, which is continuing to grow the economy in the east side of San Marcos.
Another current project is the creation of high-occupany vehicle lanes from Round Rock to San Antonio. The construction is divided in three: north, central and south.
“The overall goal is to increase capacity, person carrying capacity, of the IH-35,” said Alvis. “We’ve invested much of our capital and our resources into it and it’s the number one priority for CAMPO.”
Next was a panel discussing “lessons from the field, how major projects got done.”
Commissioner Hammer touched on a recent local achievement: bringing sidewalks for students to Wimberley.
She noted that, “Before I got elected, I said, ‘Well, why don’t we just focus on the county roads because we’re county commissioners.’ And [former commissioner Lon Shell] said, ‘You could do that. You could make the best road in the entire world and spend all your dollars on that or you could be proactive and you could realize that more families are moving here, more people are going to school and you have to plan for that.’”
So, when she noticed children walking in ditches to get to school, since FM 2325 needed sidewalks, county leadership set out to remedy the issue.
“The city of Wimberley, they don’t have property tax; they only have a sales tax, so they’re limited in what they can do in scope. FM 2325 is a state road, so the county said, ‘Hey, we’re going to take the initiative,’” explained Hammer. “I just got to cut the ribbon on it a couple weeks ago, on Feb. 5, and that was such a great accomplishment now that kids are safely walking to and from [school].”
Similar to Hammer, Trimble is a year into his position, but when he started, he immediately recognized that the city was “serious about making the investment in the community and they knew what was happening with the growth … They were saying, ‘We need to prepare for this.’ So, they’ve been willing to make the investments in the infrastructure to make that happen.”
Trimble shared that there is approximately $400 million worth of construction going on within the city of Kyle, not including $200 million for road projects. The latter is due to many road bond projects that followed the 2022 approval. Out of the 10 projects, only two are yet to begin, he said.
Additionally, the city is developing its new Transportation Master Plan.
“We have RM 150 and FM 1626 and we connect to a lot of Hays County facilities. Your Windy Hill is our Windy Hill. Your Bebee Road is our Bebee Road. Your RM 150 is our RM 150, so we’re all connected. I think we all get that right. We’re part of a network and a system and so, you have to partner effectively with your regional partners, your county, your fellow cities,” emphasized Trimble. “Just with our road bond program alone, we’re making about $65 million in investment on TxDOT facilities in the city of Kyle. So, I think we’re showing TxDOT that, ‘Hey, we’re ready to put our mouth where our money is.”
He also stated that the railroad overpass is a huge collaboration with Hays County and TxDOT, which will relocate the area that trains rest at — currently in downtown Kyle, blocking traffic — to an overpass over Kohler’s Crossing.
Concluding the summit was Conley, who led both panels: “What you’ve heard here today is that there’s been a lot of partnership and collaboration. I look around this room [and] I see leadership in the business sector. I see private sector transportation, assets and allies, like SH 130, like [the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority], that is here, as well [and] of course, we have our TxDOT people here. It takes the whole team growing in the same direction to accomplish these big, major things and to maintain and improve our communities.”
