Fate of Highway 45 SW remains uncertain

Fate of Highway 45 SW remains uncertain

By Eric Pulsifer Friday, 26 June 2009

Drivers looking for traffic relief along Brodie Lane will be waiting a bit longer as the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization decides how to move forward on the decades-old State Highway 45 SW.

With construction unlikely to begin before 2011, CAMPO removed construction funds set aside for SH 45 SW in March. At that time, CAMPO established the SH 45 SW Committee to look into options for getting the long-delayed project out of planning limbo and on the ground.

While the $70 million previously reserved for construction of SH 45 SW will now go to fund more feasible projects, ongoing environmental and engineering work will continue on the road as planned. With or without funding, construction cannot begin until biological studies conclude, a process that may take several years.

Construction funds could be reserved for the project again if CAMPO puts SH 45 SW in its 2010-2013 Transportation Improvement Program, the organization’s short-term list of projects to fund. This new TIP cannot be created until the Texas Department of Transportation has a clearer idea of how its budget will take shape now that the legislative session has ended.

Pushing for a non-tolled road

As it is currently planned, the 3.6-mile SH 45 SW would take drivers from FM 1626 to MoPac and would be a $76 million, six-lane divided highway. SH 45 SW would have four tolled express lanes and two outer non-tolled lanes separated by a concrete barrier.

The SH 45 SW Committee presented four options to CAMPO June 8 it determined to be more desirable.

The committee decided against mixing tolled and non-tolled lanes, concluding it would be difficult to find investors for the project. Mike Heiligenstein, Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority executive director, said it would be risky for project investors if non-tolled lanes were constructed beside tolled lanes as drivers would likely always opt for the toll-free travel.

“There would be no appetite,” he said. “A greenfield [previously undeveloped land] would be hard enough, but a greenfield with a competing non-tolled option: there would be no interest on the market.”

The committee also recommended scaling down the highway, proposing a four-lane, non-tolled scenario as the most highly recommended option. This would require local bond elections to help foot at least $7 million of the potential $83 million needed for construction.

Other options presented by the committee to CAMPO include a two-lane, non-tolled option and two four-lane, tolled options: one that would be supported by toll revenue from more profitable toll roads. This option would require an amendment to CAMPO policy, which states funds generated from a toll road must be used within the same corridor.

The SH 45 SW Committee has recommended CAMPO approve an option for the project before September.

Over the aquifer

SH 45 SW Committee neighborhood representative Jim Mann said no matter the option selected by CAMPO, there are no true substitutes for building the highway.

“I’m not in favor of toll roads, but if it’s the only option, I’d say it’s better than nothing,” Mann said. “There isn’t another alternative other than SH 45 SW to get people from Hays County to Travis County along that path.”

Just as in the previous plans for SH 45 SW, there will be no connecting streets or stoplights and only one exit at Bliss Spillar Road to minimize the environmental impact on the sensitive aquifer zone over which the road passes.

TxDOT Interim District Engineer Robert Stuard said environmental issues have been responsible for many of the project’s delays over the years.

“It’s like the jackpot of all environmental issues,” he said. “It’s taken a lengthy amount of time to get our head around those issues.”

The growth of Hays County

With a limited number of roads into Austin from the south, residents along Brodie Lane have often complained of traffic congestion as drivers from Hays County use the residential road to get to MoPac.

The Texas Workforce Commission projected that 40 percent of Hays County’s labor force commuted to work in Travis County in 2008.

The City of Kyle is expected to see a 780 percent increase in population between 2000 and 2040, from 8,555 residents to 73,304. City officials project northern Hays County will soon look like southern Williamson County as Kyle and Buda continue to see explosive growth.

“When you come to Kyle now and see a lot of open space, you better take a picture, because it won’t stay that way for long,” Kyle City Manager Tom Mattis said.

Closing Brodie Lane

In 2006, Travis County commissioners discussed closing Brodie Lane to through traffic in response to neighborhood concerns about the increasing traffic problems. This came a decade after it was first connected to FM 1626 to relieve congestion until SH 45 SW could be completed.

SH 45 SW Committee Chair and Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe said, at that time, the county decided to encourage expediting improvements to SH 45 SW and other roads in the area to help alleviate traffic on Brodie Lane, but that closing the road could still be a possibility if progress on SH 45 SW seems unlikely.

“The county didn’t say no, just not at this time,” Biscoe said. “If CAMPO decides against these options, they need to find some alternative. If we don’t do one of these, I’ll be open to any and all options.”

Biscoe said that he hopes that if it is determined the project is not going to move forward, that CAMPO inform citizens the road is not coming.

“It’s easy to do nothing; we’ve done nothing for 19 years,” he said. “I want an expression of intention. If we’re not going to do SH 45 SW, then we should say that.”

The Austin Outer Parkway

SH 45, or the Austin Outer Parkway, was conceived in the early ’80s as a loop around the city.

• 1985 - TxDOT begins project planning, right-of-way acquisition and environmental work on the highway. Due to the length of the loop, five segments are established. SH 45 SW is in segment 3, from IH 35 to Hwy. 290 W.
• 1989 - SH 45’s environmental impact statement from the state is approved. In December, work begins on SH 45 between Loop 1 and RM 1826.
• 1994 - Construction of SH 45 from Loop 1 to RM 1826 is completed.
• 1995 - Travis County opens a short stretch of Brodie Lane to connect to FM 1626 to relieve traffic congestion until the completion of SH 45 SW.
• 2000 - $12 million in funding is set aside to construct SH 45 SW as a two-lane roadway accommodating bicycles on shoulders.
• 2004 - CAMPO adopts the road as a toll-financed project with six lanes, including one non-tolled lane in each direction, for a total cost of $70 million.
• 2006 - Travis County commissioners discuss closing Brodie Lane to through traffic in response to neighborhood concerns about the increasing traffic congestion.
• 2008 - In December, the CAMPO Transportation Policy Board discovers it must remove nearly $70 million of construction funding from its Transportation Improvement Program, a short-term list of projects between 2008 and 2011. Because construction on SH 45 SW is unlikely to begin before 2011, the project’s funding is removed with the intention that it will be added to the list again for the 2010-2013 Transportation Improvement Program.
• 2009 - Concerned that SH 45 SW might continue to be delayed, Sen. Kirk Watson, chair of the CAMPO Transportation Policy Board, assembles the SH 45 SW Committee to determine how to complete the project as quickly as possible.

Since 1985, TxDOT has spent approximately $4.78 million on the project, while Travis and Hays counties have spent $2.87 million and $336,000 respectively purchasing right-of-way.

Source: Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization

The SH 45 SW Committee

The nine-member SH 45 SW Committee held seven public meetings between April and June, taking feedback from the public, environmental groups and government staff. A report was given to the CAMPO Transportation Policy Board June 8 outlining four new funding options for the road.

• Sam Biscoe, Travis County judge
• Janet Marsh, neighborhood representative
• Jim Mann, neighborhood representative
• Karen Huber, Travis County commissioner
• Will Wynn, former Austin Mayor
• Jeff Barton, Hays County commissioner
• Bob Larsen, Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District
• Dick Kallerman, chairman of the Save Our Springs alliance and board member of the Save Barton Creek Association
• Robert Stuard, TxDOT interim district engineer