Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, September 7, 2010,
Item 14
Joe, since we have you there, 14, consider and take appropriate action on request to approve advanced funding agreement for voluntary local government contributions to transportation improvement projects with no required match for improvements in precinct 1.
I received a little email from ms. Foreman, is that her name?
and she's connecting this to txi, and the other backup connected it more to hornsby bend elementary school and increased traffic I guess including maybe trucks from gravel pits.
can you address that a little bit for me?
>> sure, judge.
steven altman, t.n.r.
what is requested to construct the double left turn lane out of the Austin college subdivision on to fm 969.
the email that you are referring to, judge, I saw that yesterday afternoon.
ms. Foreman is not objecting to that project but she did take objection to some of the language in the backup memo that I prepared.
the first thing that she brought up was that I had indicated in the backup memo on the first page in the summary and recommendations, I stated in the subdivision that contains about 1,000 homes.
she indicated to me that really she thinks that there's 3500 homes out there with the potential to go to 5,000.
I had staff do a lot count from tcad this morning and we counted 1775 homes.
so rather than argue that point, I would suggest that that language be changed to just indicate there are several thousand homes that are going to be involved in all of this work that we're proposing to do out there.
the other major issue she brought up was in the last sentence of the third paragraph on page 2 under issues and opportunities.
I made the statement that traffic from the quarry operation will not enter dunlap road provides direct access to 969.
there's no need for these trucks to go through this subdivision.
after discussing with Commissioner Davis, I instructed our traffic engineer to develop a regulation to prohibit through-truck traffic on to hunters bend road and stay off dunlap road.
that will take about 30 days to put into place, that regulation.
so we're in the process.
>> to the extent the law allows it.
>> I'm sorry?
>> to the extent that the law allows such a prohibition.
>> there is a -- it won't solve all of the trucks in the neighborhood.
I was out there last week and I noticed there are some truck drivers who live in that neighborhood and they park their truck on the road and this won't stop that from happening, but it will allow the sheriff's department to enforce preventing through trucks going through that neighborhood.
>> will this project address -- addresses what problem?
>> this particular project, there is a pretty significant traffic congestion problem at the intersection of hunters bend road with fm 969.
it missed before this new middle school opened up, you've probably been seeing in press.
before the school opened I was working with txdot to develop a project to construct a double left northbound on hunters bend road and to allow them to turn two lanes of traffic on to westbound 969.
and that will get more traffic out through that intersection when they have a green light.
the school opened, they have a new school out there, a lot more students.
they also stopped bus service in the area so a lot of students were driving their kids to school and it just exacerbated.
>> when you say bus service, bus service provided by the del valle independent school district.
>> that's right.
since that time they have been working to try to improve upon the way traffic moves through the area on to the campus and on to the state highway and hunters bend road.
I don't know that they've got that fixed, but they are continuing to work at that.
this project is one project that will help to provide for a long-term solution.
it will take about a year to do, but it by itself won't solve all the problems out there.
it will also take, I believe, finding another access road into the subdivision.
there is one primary access road into it, and I think we need to find another one.
I've assigned an engineer to look at the alternatives to doing that and in the longer range improving 969 to a four-lane roadway.
after speaking to txdot, they have indicated they have no funds and we may have to come back to court in the future and hopefully have more success, but that is ultimately what's going to need to take place out there.
>> and in addition to that new school that has started out there in del valle independent school district, daly middle school, there will be another school actually coming on line in August of 2011, joseph gilbert elementary school.
and, of course, this will be according to my sources, will be north of 969 at
>> [indiscernible].
so that in itself is something that I think del valle isd will need to address as far as the -- the population, the student population that will even be attending this new school as hopefully we can help resolve this issue by doing what we're doing here now today, but buses -- school buses are desperately needed out there, especially with the emergence of a new elementary school coming right down the road.
so this thing is not over and this is 2011 when this new school is supposed to come up, according to my sources here.
and that's joseph gilbert elementary school.
so we are confronted with very critical issues as far as traffic congestion is concerned.
this is -- even though it's relief, hopefully by then del valle would have -- independent school district would have made some kind of arrangements to provide some kind of bus transportation relief and maybe some things that txdot can do in the interim to assist in this particular concern.
it's quite an ordeal.
and, of course, I think we can overcome it, though.
thank you.
>> did you have a opportunity to respond to miss foreman's email?
>> no, sir, I did not.
>> but you plan to do so.
>> I will do that.
>> because the explanation makes sense.
Commissioner Eckhardt.
>> move approval.
>> second.
>> seconded by Commissioner Eckhardt.
>> hopefully before the next school year, we'll have some type of relief at that intersection, hunters bend and fm 969.
>> txdot has indicated they will do everything they can.
>> txdot assured that.
>> yes, sir.
>> okay, good.
>> my question is 969 is a state road, correct?
>> yes, ma'am.
>> and the cost of this project is -- the cost of this project which, of course, is not a complete fix because what we were looking at is considerably more, it's a really comprehensive fix, would be in the -- looking at your backup, was in the -- the comprehensive fix is considered for the widening is how much?
>> it's included in the campo plan at $110 million to widen fm 969 from sh 130 to webberville.
we would have to -- that's such a huge number and it will probably have to be along a pass-through finance type of application.
>> the infrastructure is not cheap.
>> no, it's not.
>> so this project is a $422,000 project.
>> yes.
>> for which Travis County taxpayers are paying the lion's share, around 390,000.
>> that's correct.
>> so the locals are picking up the tab for the state road.
>> they are, ma'am.
>> just wanted to make that very clear, that we are, once again, picking up the tab for a state road, but we are happy to do it because it's very much needed, as Commissioner Davis so eloquently laid out.
>> $34,000 for txdot basically for the a and e and $89,300 for what the county is -- 1984 bond money.
>> that's correct.
>> so I want to make sure because it might be a little error in the backup where it said 1884.
>> thank you for correcting me.
it may seem that long.
>> not 1884 bond money.
>> all right.
>> with that, actually we've already moved approval of it and hopefully --
>> any discussion on the motion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
let's put an asterisk by the happy to indicate the county --
>> that was more of rhetorical than an expression of glee.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 2010 7:56 PM
