Plans in progress to address SH 29 congestion in Williamson County

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas - Efforts are moving forward to relieve the growing traffic pressure along Highway 29 between Georgetown and Liberty Hill. 

The plans involve short-term relief and a larger freeway fix.

Local perspective:

An employee with a traffic counting company checked cameras at the intersection of the US 183 tollway and SH 29. 

Those cameras are recording what drivers in this part of Williamson County already know: congestion.

Commuters like Carlee Griffin have seen congestion on SH 29 dramatically increase in the last few years.

"In three years, it’s changed quite a bit just where we’re at just down the road. They’re constantly changing everything. People are flooding everywhere. Driving everywhere. You can’t get anywhere you need to go," said Griffin.

Bypass connectors in Williamson County

What they're saying:

A series of bypass connectors are being built by the county. The Seward Junction Loop in Liberty Hill is similar to the ones that have been built in Georgetown.

"It’s managed, I think you have to complete all of the pieces before you see a lot of relief " said Pct 2 Commissioner Cynthia Long.

The idea, according to Long, is to reduce congestion at the major intersections and move traffic away from the center of towns like Georgetown and Liberty Hill.

"I’m excited we were able to open half of Seward Junction Loop a year or two ago. That’s really helped. We are gonna start construction on half of the north piece this year and then the fourth piece of it, probably in another year or two and that whole loop around 29 and 183 will be finished. That will be huge," said Long.

However, along with more travel options, the number of traffic lights has also increased, which in turn, has increased commutes. Addressing gridlock would involve a major rebuild of SH 29.

In anticipation of that, the county started buying rights of way several years ago.

"We know that the right of way is not going to get any cheaper and so we have just been buying it as we go. I think that will reduce long-term the overall cost of the project because buying it now is always cheaper than 10 years from now," said Long.

TxDOT expansion of SH 29

What's next:

The actual expansion of SH 29 would be a TxDOT project. Officials told FOX 7 Austin that discussions about that have recently begun.

The idea is to build a limited-access freeway from US 281 in Burnet to I-35 in Georgetown. However agency officials stress that they are only at the embryonic stage of the plan.

It is unknown when construction would actually begin, but an official community outreach is expected sometimes next year.

The first step for an expansion will be environmental impact studies; how much the expansion will cost and where the money will come from have not yet been identified.

"Well relief is coming. We’ve got pieces. We’ve got the loop. We got a bypass. We got interstate improvement, but we’re also working on the much bigger picture. The north-south pieces have been approved," said Long.

A lot of the focus in Williamson County has been improving major north-south routes. The only fast track east to west is the SH 45 tollway. Expanding Highway 29 would represent a big shift in cross-county connectivity.
 
"We have a long-range transportation plan that really shows what the county roads system needs to look like when we are at 3 million people I mean, we’re really not just thinking five and 10 years ahead. We’re looking 50 years ahead," said Long.