Travis County Commissioners Court
August 22, 2006
Item 17
17 is is to consider and take appropriate action on request to bob daigh, Texas department of transportation regional director, for a ramp off sh 45 southeast to a county road.
>> good morning again. Joe gieselman with the transportation department. We did have an opportunity to meet with the property owners and a representative from txdot, representative from the city of Austin and my own staff. We focused almost exclusively on the transportation issues relating to the camp off of state highway 45 southeast and the internal road to the development to the norz -- actually, it's the northeast corner of i-35 and state highway 45 southeast. We understand that the property owner doesn't current shri an application before the county or the city for development. We expect that that corner will be intensely developed and will have an entry road about where the ranch comes out on the farm-to-market road. Because the state is currently designing and will soon build 45 southeast, that kind of calls the question. It's not like the property owner is ready to submit a set of plans, but they understand that this is probably their last opportunity to affect the design plans of 45 southeast before that is done and gone. Txdot doesn't have any issues necessarily with the ramp, is willing to construct the ramp, but wants some assurance that if they do, their investment wouldn't be wafted on the north -- wasted on the north side of this farm-to-market road where the development occurs and there will be a road entering into this property. When we all sat down we looked at by and large the tie-in of the ramp to this road. It looks like the location is is in a spot where the sight distance are good. It's far enough away from i-35. We look at this development it as if it were a large mall, say Barton Creek mall, and/or equating the surrounding network to loop 360 and what would happen on a christmas weekend where all the shop you were were headed to this one place, what will be traffic look like coming off that ramp and into this driveway and all the dynamics that might occur there. And I think we came away from the meeting -- and the farm-to-market road right now is a two-lane roadway. It will eventually be a four-lane roadway. You will likely have a four-lane roadway going into is this new development and this ramp coming off from the south tying into this intersection. So it's going to be one busy intersection. It probably will be that signalized. We would support the construction of the ramp off of 35. It actually would serve as a one leg of a four-legged intersection and probably would need to be changed to fit better, and that was really a comment made by the txdot engineer that they needed to round out the curve a little bit fwert. It was a little too sharp. And it needs to be a four lane ramp instead of a two lane ramp because of the number of cars that will be cued upcoming off of 45 and getting off to go to this large multi-use center. So we believe that it is fine to go ahead and spoert support the ramp. I have drafted a letter to bob daigh from judge Biscoe stating that fact. We have made known it to the applicant that this in no means means that the county is approving a development that they still have that process. We will apply our design standards when we receive the application. But I think for the most part from the transportation issues just specific to the ramp, we're okay with the ramp.
>> do we think that the proposed change is better than not making it.
>> as I said to the applicant, with or without the ramp, I'm not sure that the other changes won't have to take place anyway. This is not the only development in the area. Once you begin to see the vacant tracts, it's going to be all sorts of stuff happening off of toit highway 45 southeast after it's constructed. So there's no assurance that even if the ramp were not there or is there is that there won't be cause for the road to be upgrade at some point because of all the other land uses that will change in the same time period. So I'm not sure there is a contrast with or without. You may have the ramp and still have problems on turnersville road because of other development in the area. That intersection may have problems regardless whaf we do on the ramp.
>> will this change impact what's on the other side of i-35? West of i-35?
>> not necessary lirks no. I don't think this requires any design changes to plans on the other side of i-35. At least we did not discuss that. And I don't necessity anything -- just because you put a ramp on the east side of i-35, I don't think it necessarily changes anything on the other side.
>> it looked fairly straightforward to me.
>> judge, do we think that this letter will be sufficient for today --
>> I think it will be. I got the sense from the state's representative that I think this would be sufficient.
>> what's the (indiscernible).
>> the tds.
>> well, it would be going through this intersection. All the traffic, we'll have one more signal to get through.
>> people will get through there -- I think they make a lot of different trips through this.
>> they do. The roadway eventually will be upgraded to a four-lane roadway. As development occurs on either side of the farm-to-market road. The same volume of traffic is going to the landfill now will probably continue and tall go through this intersection that we're talking about.
>> and y'all know that?
>> yes. Very aware of that.
>> yes, sir?
>> I'm going to need a week on this. I was really surprise when had I got letter yesterday that this was -- I mean, almost the anti-thesis of what before us a couple of weeks ago. And so I was thinking that this was not something that we were going to do. And I talked to joe yesterday because I think I got in at 4:30 saying no, this is something that we're going to go forward with, and I do have some questions that I probably will end up talking to john with and I certainly want to talk with to joe, but yeah, there are some issues that I've got concerning that area throughout. I'd like to have another week to talk to both our department and john if he wants to talk to me about it.
>> obviously I'd be happy to talk to you. Yeah, I would make myself available. Although I wouldn't call the road the an tith sis of what occurred two weeks ago, and I understand you had a meeting at the capitol. And in essence there were some unanswered questions fromio and his department's perspective and exitioner Davis and others said I'd like to hear what happens when txdot, the city and the tnr group get together and discuss it, and that happened, this is the output of that, it was a very productive meeting. It was fairly straightforward. Gerngs it's an issue that hopefully nothing has changed significantly since our last conversation water and wastewater you. Again, it's -- our last conversations with you. It's a culmination of the conversations that started two or three months ago.
>> the reason I say antithesis is because when joe and I spoke about it on the phone, week, 10 days ago, it was the antithesis in that this is just not something that we do. There is no development, there's no site plan, there's nothing down there. That is not something that we generally do. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, that it's an idea that if I owned the land that I wouldn't be doing the same thirngs but that's the reason that I think sai that it is the antithesis because I just assumed that okay, don't do that, it's not something that we traditionally do. And it does spawn some questions for me to move forward. I'd just like a little bit of time to talk with you and with joe.
>> I think we have done this before and it was with sh 1 130 when you get to howard lane and it was where the existing county road is now, which I like tone the turnersville, or whether we would have it at howard lane, which was -- there's nothing out thrvment it's no the middle of nowhere, but there's every anticipation that that indeed is is going to be completely developed and so I just -- times we have to make planning decisions before it gets here, but it is certainly fwoart have this discussion now with txdot to say, do you know what, it looks like that ramp will be needed as opposed to we missed an opportunity to fix something before it's built because the change orders are always so much more expensive.
>> well, I don't think a week is going to make a difference. I think we can get resolution to this, but I would like to have a couple of things answered.
>> we'll have it back on next week.
>> all right. Thank you.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, August 22, 2006 7:33 PM