Highway 290 expansion: Wheels moving with TEO community meetings

US 290 could see toll road between Manor, Elgin

The wheels are in motion for a long-awaited road expansion. Two community meetings are scheduled this week to discuss pushing the Highway 290 tollway through Manor and into Elgin. FOX 7 Austin's Rudy Koski reports.

MANOR, Texas - Two community meetings are scheduled this week to discuss pushing the Highway 290 tollway through Manor and into Elgin.

The backstory:

Highway 290 is a major link between Austin and Houston. The section between Manor and Elgin is also a major problem. 

The 15-mile stretch is considered one of the top 10 roadways in Texas for gridlock. 

That’s no secret for those stuck in it. Or who try to avoid it like Simone Slighly. She commutes to Manor from Georgetown.

"Nightmare. And more and more you see more traffic, more people, more accidents. It's just chaos," said Slighly.

It's so bad Simone told FOX 7 she doesn't dread the thought of having to navigate around road construction.

"I believe bad things come for the good. I know we will be in a lot of trouble with the traffic and with the construction, but look in a positive way to the future," said Slighly.

The future is the extension of the 290 Tollway, from SH130 in Manor through Elgin to SH 95. 

The proposed project runs a total of 15 miles. 

This project, which is being managed by the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, is not being fast tracked. An initial design is not expected until the middle of next year.

Community meetings, called listening sessions, are scheduled for this week. Tuesday evening at the Manor Elementary Early Learning Center and Thursday at the Elgin ACC campus.

Dig deeper:

A big reason for these listening sessions is to identify hotspots that the CTRMA may not necessarily be thinking about. They refer to them as commuting "points of pain" and the people who FOX 7 spoke to say that there are several big ones.

"All the stoplights through Manor and Elgin, of course, I feel like the toll road will just open it up and let people travel to get from point A to point B where they're going in time and not have to wait for all the traffic," said Randall Vradenburg, who also said he did not object to the roadway being a tollway.

The new 290, when completed, could look a lot like the 183 Tollway in East Austin which is known as the Bergstrom Expressway.

"Yeah, that would be great because currently, when I come from South Austin on my Monday deliveries coming back home, going from 183 North onto the 290 flyover onto the toll road, not stopping at all until I get to Manor. If I could not stop the entire time to get back to the farm, that'd be great," said Rob Cunningham, a local farmer.

What's next:

It's not known how businesses and locations like Shadow Glen golf course will be impacted by a wider roadway. 

A final design is not expected until 2028 and there is no date for the start of construction. 

An estimated budget for the 290 expansion project has not yet been calculated.