Projects of all sizes crisscrossing the Bluebonnet service area are planned in the coming years to smooth the flow of traffic

Story by Melissa Segrest   l  Photos by Kelly West

POP QUIZ. Which is worse?

A: Being trapped in traffic, creeping ever so slowly, because the road you’re on wasn’t built to handle the weekday rush-hour crush.

B: Being trapped in traffic, still creeping slowly, because the road you’re on is under construction for a few years so that overpasses, lanes, wider shoulders and medians can be added.

Depending on where you drive, maybe the answer is both. But B is the road you want. It brings the promise of a smoother future commute in which gridlock fades like a bleak memory. Plus, there are a lot of answer Bs headed to congested roads near you.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is in the process of building or planning several large, multiyear, multimillion-dollar road projects for many counties across the 3,800-square-mile Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative service area. Many other projects are planned to improve busy, smaller roads in all or part of the 14 Central Texas counties where Bluebonnet provides electricity. Resurfacing a road, widening shoulders, adding turn lanes and median barriers are all aspects of TxDOT’s plans.

“We measure the average daily traffic on our Texas roadways, and when we start to see those things tick up, we take note and ask, ‘How much is this increasing and do we expect that to continue?’,” said Brad Wheelis, spokesman for the Austin District of TxDOT. “We look at (growth) numbers, and we look for trends and then decide if we need to increase capacity or make some safety improvements on a road.”

TxDOT manages projects on interstate, U.S. and state highways, as well as farm-to-market and ranch-to-market roads. Sometimes cities or counties help with project planning, which can speed the process. Otherwise, counties and cities pay for their own road projects. Developers are responsible for the roads within the subdivisions they build.

The Austin District of TxDOT includes 11 counties, six of which are all or partly within the Bluebonnet service area: Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Lee, Travis and Williamson. The Bryan District of TxDOT oversees road projects in 10 counties, including Washington and Burleson on the eastern side of Bluebonnet’s service area, and Milam on the northern side.

Not all improvements are major projects. In many cases, “we might add shoulders, a safety enhancement,” Wheelis said. “On some of the more rural roadways, we’ll build a continuous center-turn lane — a big safety improvement that also improves mobility.”

Large road projects dot the Bluebonnet region

Texas 71 from
Texas 130 to Bastrop

A multiphase, multiyear series of projects that will eventually remove all traffic lights on the highway’s main lanes from east of the Texas 130 toll road all the way to Houston. It will be several years before the projects are finished, but two significant segments are nearly complete or well underway. Construction of an overpass to carry Texas 71 traffic over Ross and Kellam roads in southeastern Travis County is planned for completion in 2024, and all lanes of the new bridge over the Colorado River in Bastrop are slated to open in 2023. Planned overpasses at Tucker Hill Lane, Pope Bend Road and FM 1209 in Bastrop County do not have timelines yet. The projects are forecast to total $199.4 million.

FM 110 loop
east of San Marcos

Hays County continues to be one of the fastest-growing in the country, and traffic on Interstate 35 reflects that. When it is complete, this loop east of San Marcos will provide an alternative to I-35. One of the project’s three segments is under construction. A new 6.5-mile, two-lane road with 10-foot shoulders will stretch from I-35 to Texas 80 in Caldwell and Hays counties, including construction of an overpass above Texas 21 near the San Marcos airport. That new road will connect with portions of FM 110 that will reconnect with I-35 south of San Marcos. The project began in 2022 and could be complete in 2023 at a cost of $36.5 million.

U.S. 290/Texas 36 interchange, Brenham

The existing cloverleaf design for the intersection of the two busy roads is no match for today’s traffic. “The annual average daily traffic is on the order of 45,000 vehicles per day at this location, which represents about a 100% increase in traffic in the last 10 years,” said Juan Quiroz, the TxDOT Bryan District’s planning engineer. “The new design will improve safety and operate much more efficiently.” Construction of a new direct-connect interchange is scheduled to start in 2026 and should take two to three years to build. In addition, a stretch of U.S. 290 will be widened to a four-lane highway with a wide grassy median. Altogether, “the estimated construction cost now is $103 million,” Quiroz said. “It’s one of the bigger projects in the Bryan district.”

FM 973 realignment
east of Manor

Rapid growth across the Manor area of eastern Travis County has generated heavy traffic on both U.S. 290 and the Texas 130 toll road during peak hours. Many area drivers use FM 973 to bypass that intersection to reach Texas 130 from Manor. The existing FM 973 is narrow, zigzags across U.S. 290 and takes sharp turns through the middle of Manor. TxDOT plans to realign and expand FM 973 and route it to bypass Manor to the east. That would create a direct, continuous six-lane road with a grassy median and multiple turn lanes. The project would include construction of four overpasses and bridges over two creeks. Construction hasn’t started, and no timeline has been set, but eventually the cost of the project is estimated at $200 million.

Some other significant road projects planned for the Bluebonnet region include:

• 

  Texas 142 in Caldwell County: New lanes will be added on the stretch of 142 from Texas 80 east to the Texas 130 toll road. There is no timeline for the project, which is estimated to cost $53 million.
• FM 60 in Burleson County: This road is slated to be widened to four lanes from its intersection with Texas 36 to west of FM 2039 near Snook. TxDOT’s project planning document estimates the project will be completed by 2024 at a cost of $34.29 million.
• Texas 21 in Bastrop County: This state highway is scheduled to be widened to a four-lane divided road from CR 130 near Bastrop State Park to just north of U.S. 290 near Paige; twin overpasses will be constructed over U.S. 290 as well. The project is expected to start in 2024 at an estimated cost of $50 million.
• FM 2720 in Caldwell County: TxDOT has in its project plan the addition of lanes and shoulders on the stretch of this road from Texas 21 at Uhland to Texas 142 in Lockhart. There is no timeline for the project, which is estimated to cost $53 million.
• FM 969 in Travis and Bastrop counties: A short stretch in western Bastrop County is being widened and shoulders are being added for an estimated cost of $2.5 million; a 1.8-mile stretch from Hunters Bend Road to Taylor Lane in eastern Travis County will also be widened. Construction of that is expected to start in 2026 with a potential price tag of $8.95 million.

From moving utility lines to discussions of proposed road projects, Bluebonnet works in tandem with TxDOT.  “It really does take a partnership to move these projects forward,” Wheelis said.

Bobby Colwell, spokesman for the Bryan District of TxDOT, spoke about the mission and the goals of his district: “We strive to implement effective planning and forecasting processes that deliver the right projects in our region, including in Burleson and Washington counties, on time and on budget. Our plans are always evolving.” Quiroz, also of the Bryan District of TxDOT, spoke about the importance of working closely with utilities such as Bluebonnet when developing a project. He added that the cooperative and TxDOT have worked together closely on different aspects of the U.S. 290/Texas 36 reconstruction.

In recent years, TxDOT completed other multimillion dollar projects on U.S. 290 from Elgin east to Giddings, improving turn lanes and widening medians and shoulders in the mostly rural stretch of road. Steel cable median barriers were added as an important safety improvement aimed at eliminating head-on collisions.

But even less populated Central Texas communities have traffic jams. All it takes is a train passing near downtown Giddings around rush hour to stop movement on U.S. 290. Even that situation is on TxDOT’s radar: A “corridor study,” a long-term, comprehensive analysis of the short stretch of highway and adjacent land, could bring an overpass or some other solution by the 2030s, with a potential price tag of $10 million.

The longer view: Planning for 2045

While the Texas Department of Transportation plans many of its projects for the next decade, another road-planning organization in the Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative region looks more than 20 years into the future.

The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, or CAMPO, is mandated by the federal government to work with a range of area elected officials, state and local transportation agencies and technical experts, including Bluebonnet at times. CAMPO develops plans that address all aspects of transportation, including roads and bicycle lanes, transit systems and future growth. It covers six Central Texas counties, five of which — Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis and Williamson — are within all or part of the Bluebonnet service area.

CAMPO’s plans and studies are key in determining how federal money is allocated for transportation projects.

With some of the nation’s fastest- growing counties in CAMPO’s territory, “it is difficult to get ahead of the growth,” said Doise Miers, CAMPO’s community outreach manager. “We’re looking at doubling the population by 2045 for the entire six-county region. Right now, we’ve got about 2 million people in the area and we’re looking at probably more than 4 million people in the next 25 years.” Counties east of Austin are where CAMPO expects the most rapid growth.

“As part of our 2045 plan, we put together a regional arterial study,” Miers said, that looks at improvements to increasingly busy farm-to-market and ranch-to-market roads. “We want to see how those could be improved and made a little bit more robust, with something as simple as a left-turn lane.”

CAMPO is already working on its 2050 plan. “Having input from the utility providers and other infrastructure groups is really helpful because you all have a sense of what your service needs will be in the coming decades,” Miers said. “Us having that input helps our plan be more effective and more on point.”