AUSTIN, Texas — Roadwork along highway 71 between Austin and Bastrop over the next few years is supposed to cut down on traffic and make the highway safer.
It's also going to have a big impact on some homeowners and businesses.
TxDOT plans to remove traffic signals on SH 71 at five locations – Ross Road, Kellam Road, Tucker Hill Lane, Pope Bend Road and FM 1209. It says the plan is to build overpasses in order to increase mobility along SH 71. It also says they're all separate projects with one common goal -- reducing traffic congestion and improving the safety of the stretch of highway.
"With the neighborhoods and population growth, we really need to address the congestion that's out there, and we need to address safety in that area," said TxDOT spokesperson Brad Wheelis.
TxDOT told KVUE that in 2015 the stretch of highway handled 35,000 cars per day.
"Anytime you have a high rate of traffic, 60 miles an hour or more, when you ask folks to stop at a stoplight there are times where folks aren’t paying attention, so they might run the stoplight. There are folks that are going to pull out at a stoplight, and they think they got enough time to accelerate and they don’t. This causes crashes," said Wheelis. "If we remove the signals it's not a cure-all, but it goes a long way in improving that corridor."
The plans for the future overpasses include frontage roads.
For the case of the intersection FM 1209 and SH 71, they'll need to tear down seven homes and 25 businesses along a 2.5-mile stretch. That way, there's enough right-of-way acreage for the project.
As of right now, TxDOT says the environmental decision on the project would happen this summer; the final design would move forward next fall, and construction would start in 2024.
"We want to make the least impact possible on homeowners and business owners in the area," said Wheelis.
TxDOT says those impacted by these future plans qualify for relocation assistance if needed. There is no word yet on how much the property owners would get for their land.
TxDOT held a public hearing on April 30 at the Bastrop Convention and Exhibit Center, but it says the community outreach on the projects started in 2016 (2018 for the FM 1209 project).
Benny's Texas Bar-B-Q is one of the businesses that will have to go.
The popular BBQ joint has sat right on State Highway 71 for more than a decade.
"The highway kept growing, and just a lot more people out here," said Benny Ochoa, the owner, who bought the property in the early 1980s.
"You may see one, two, three cars in a row, and then maybe another 30 minutes you'd see two or three more," said Ochoa. "It's crazy. I mean it's 'zoom, zoom zoom' ... It's gotten crazy out here -- lot and lot of people -- and a lot more coming."
He says it's hard right now and he isn't sure about what to do after -- whether he will re-locate or have to shut down the restaurant all together.
"I hate losing my place. I bought it here thinking I'd retire and it'd be mine forever," said Ochoa. "It's kind of sad for these people."
But he also says he understands why it's needed.
"This expansion is needed. It's needed for the safety of everybody really," said Ochoa, citing the schools that are nearby needing safer roads for school buses, and saying traffic is an issue.
"It's really a safety issue if you ask me," said Ochoa.
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