DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas — As the population of Dripping Springs continues booming, residents are telling the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) what changes they want to see on the main road in and out of town.
TxDOT held a community meeting on Saturday at the Dripping Springs Ranch Park and Event Center to take public feedback on traffic issues and solutions along a 13-mile stretch of U.S. 290 between Dripping Springs and the Oak Hill area of southwest Austin.
TxDOT says traffic has jumped 50% since 2010.
A roughly 1-mile segment of U.S. 290 in Dripping Springs between Rob Shelton Boulevard and Roger Hanks Parkway is in final design. The rest of the highway between Dripping Springs and Austin, from Rob Shelton Boulevard to RM 1826, is under environmental study.
Adding a lane and building overpasses and underpasses were two early ideas, but TxDOT Austin spokesperson Brad Wheelis said no plan has been decided.
“Public feedback is critical to any project that we’re building, and it does make a difference,” Wheelis said. “Whether it’s this project, or it might be Loop 360, the Oak Hill Parkway project, all of those projects have public input incorporated and changes made to the design as a result of that.”
Lauren Naylor, an eight-year resident of Dripping Springs who attended Saturday’s meeting, told KVUE residents are fighting to avoid an Interstate 35-style freeway through their area.
“We want to work with TxDOT,” Naylor said. “It sounds like from today, TxDOT wants to work with the community. We want them to go back to the drawing board and come up with something that will improve the safety of the 290 corridor without decimating the Hill Country.”
Naylor suggested waiting to see the traffic impact from current road projects.
“I think TxDOT is doing some great work in terms of the expansion downtown in Dripping, the expansion of [RM] 1826, the expansion of [State Highway] 12 and [RM] 150,” Naylor said. “All of those will have great repercussions on traffic where we need it most, and I think that will have an effect and a relief on the 290 west corridor.”
Wheelis said TxDOT is still in the preliminary stages of this project.
“We are not funded for construction,” he said. “So, this is not something that is going to happen immediately. In fact, if we find construction funding, this portion of U.S. 290 probably would not go to construction before 2032.”
Wheelis expects the environmental clearance process to last until 2025.
Boomtown is KVUE's series covering the explosive growth in Central Texas. For more Boomtown stories, head to KVUE.com/Boomtown.