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Georgetown Growth: More people means more roads

This year, the United States census bureau ranked Georgetown, Texas as the sixth fastest-growing city in the country, and city officials are working to alleviate traffic issues as more traffic issues arise.

One Central Texas community seeing more traffic these days is Georgetown, and city leaders are trying to do their part to keep up.

Georgetown, once a quaint and historic city just 30 miles north of Austin, isn't as sleepy as it used to be.

Now home to nearly 70,000 folks apartments, restaurants and roads are constantly under construction.

This year, the United States census bureau ranked Georgetown as the sixth fastest-growing city in the country.

Keith Hutchinson, Communications Manager for the City of Georgetown said, "With that growth comes the added traffic demands and to look at the infrastructure that we can improve to deal with that growth."

When the city of Georgetown's 2015 bond proposal passed, it set aside $105 million for transportation projects over 10 years.

One project that has been in the works since 2014 is the Austin Avenue Bridge Rehabilitation Project. These bridges are a central gateway to Georgetown's downtown square, which is one of the features people love about Georgetown. When the work is done, drivers and walkers will benefit from it.

"These bridges have some issues. The bearings have frozen on them, which means it can't expand and contract the way it needs to. We found that out in an inspection report in 2014, so now we have a plan to look at rehabilitating those bridges. And also, building a separate pedestrian bridge for those pedestrians and bicyclists and making it safe for those folks to cross the bridge," according to Hutchinson.

Georgetown City Council approved the rehabilitation in late August, and the bridge is still in the design process. The city of Georgetown is also working with the Texas Department of Transportation to make it a reality.

Another project, which has already broken ground, is the Rivery Boulevard extension. This project got started this summer and will connect with the new Northwest Boulevard bridge over Interstate 35, creating a new east-west connection. This project also will be a traffic reliever for Williams Drive, Georgetown's busiest commercial corridor.

The new buildings, new restaurants and new roads are all proof of Georgetown's attempt to stay ahead of the curve.

"Traffic is not gonna get any less so we need to do things that address that traffic over time," according to Hutchinson.

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