TEXAS STATE EDITION
A Supplement to:
February 7 2015 Vol. I • No. 3
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded in 1957.” Your Texas Connection • Dale Agnew, Carrollton, TX • 1-877-877-4997
Austin’s SH 71 Road Project Should Reduce Traffic Jams McCarthy Building Companies photo
The new bridges being built are concrete girder bridges, with the main structure being 3,000 ft. (914.4 m) long and the second longest 450 ft. (137.7 m), while a number of existing 200 ft. (61 m) long bridges are being widened.
McCarthy Building Companies photo
Crews from McCarthy Building Companies Inc. began work on a $149 million Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) SH 71 Express project in January 2015.
By Irwin Rapoport CEG CORRESPONDENT
Crews from McCarthy Building Companies Inc. began work on a $149 million Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) SH 71 Express project in January 2015. The toll lanes are scheduled to open to travelers in the Austin area in October 2016. This is a key road for area traffic and in addition to day shifts, work is being done at night and weekends to minimize the impact on traffic. “The project is dedicated to improving long-term mobility in Austin,” said Emily Riggs, public information coordinator for the SH 71 Express project. “State Highway
71 is one of Austin’s most important roadways connecting drivers to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA), the city of Bastrop, and other central Texas communities. The purpose of the project is to enhance safety and reduce congestion and travel time along this corridor. “Mobility improvements to SH 71 have been studied by TxDOT, in cooperation with the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority,” she added. “In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, TxDOT conducted an environmental study for the project. The final environmental assessment was completed in May 2014 and the project received a finding of no significant impact.” The bulk of the work is a 3.9-mi. (6.28 km) limitedaccess toll road — one lane in each direction — beginning
at Presidential Boulevard, near the airport and extending east, ending at SH 130 near Onion Creek. The project will include two new toll lanes, new bridges over FM 973 and SH 130, and ramps between toll lanes and the main lanes of SH 71 and SH 130. In addition, Presidential Boulevard and FM 973 will be widened. The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, an independent government agency created in 2002 to improve the transportation system in Williamson and Travis counties, is responsible for the toll road. The expanded highway, a project funded by the federal and state government, is needed as traffic in the project area has increased by 158 percent since 1990. The project see AUSTIN page 14
TXDOT Unveils Initial $1.3 Billion to Address Congestion On average, Texas drivers in five of the state’s largest metropolitan areas each are losing about 52 hours and $1,200 annually due to traffic congestion, according to the Texas Transportation Institute 2015 Urban Mobility Scorecard. Upon approval by the Texas Transportation Commission, the Texas
Department of Transportation plans to improve drive times and reduce costs to Texas drivers through a $1.3 billion effort focused on delivering projects at an accelerated pace that addresses gridlock in some of the state’s most congested areas. “The major metro areas of Texas — Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San
Antonio — represent more than two-thirds of the state’s population and 97 percent of the state’s most congested roads,” said J. Bruce Bugg Jr., Texas transportation commissioner who was appointed by the commission to lead this statewide effort. “These areas see some of the worst congestion in the nation. We’ve just completed a
listening tour in these major areas and have gathered valuable local input from transportation leaders regarding their priorities and where we can quickly address some needs. This is the initial phase of a new statewide plan to address congestion.” If adopted by the commission, these see TXDOT page 20