Buda councilmembers scrapped plans to build a connector between W. Goforth and Cabela’s Drive after estimates came in at $2.1 million. The road would have provided northbound access to IH-35.
by JEN BIUNDO
Facing $2.1 million in sticker shock, Buda councilmembers pulled the plug last week on a road that had long been planned to connect West Goforth Road to northbound IH-35.
City officials first raised the idea of the connector road in 2006, as the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) began warning local municipalities that the two-way access roads would eventually be converted to one-way.
West Goforth, which runs east-west on the south side of the city, dead-ends into IH-35 just a few hundred feet south of the FM 2001 overpass. Prior to the one-way conversion, motorists could dog-leg up to the FM 2001 bridge, cross over to the east side of the interstate and head north into Austin.
In the past, city officials such as former mayor John Trube have said they would likely build the connector road long before the access roads went one-way.
“That road had been on the radar for quite some time,” said Buda Councilmember Sandra Tenorio. “It got on the radar, it stayed on. We just proceeded with the idea we would get that road replaced, and we even had public hearings about it.”
But in April, TxDOT caught city officials off guard when they announced that the one-way conversion was scheduled for May 5. Now, residents on the city’s south side have to head north through the Sequoyah or Ashford Park neighborhoods to the overpass at Main Street, tacking several minutes on to their commute.
City staffers said they had received some phone calls from citizens saying that the change has added an extra 15-20 minutes onto their commute, but councilmembers say they haven’t heard the complaints.
“There was this thought at the time that there would be this huge outcry when the access road went one-way and people would be stranded,” Tenorio said. “And what happened is we have not gotten that reaction. People are wonderful about adjusting their routes. If it’s not causing the problem that some people thought it might cause, let’s not go there.”
City staff estimated that the 1,415 feet of roadway would cost $700,000 in right-of-way purchase and $1.6 million in construction, with the price inflated by plans to include an eight-foot high sound wall to deaden the noise for Ashford Park homes that would back directly up to the planned road.
“Basically when we were given the cost estimates, we said, ‘that’s $2 million we ought to be spending on something else,’” said Buda Mayor Bobby Lane.
Lane, who lives just off Goforth and commutes to far north Austin every day, said the conversion hasn’t negatively impacted his drive. While he used to head up the west access road to the FM 2001 overpass, now he drives north through the Sequoyah subdivision to Main Street, occasionally taking Cabela’s road back to FM 2001 if the line at the Main Street light is long.
“It maybe adds two minutes – it’s really not speakable,” Lane said. “In fact, the way I go now, technically it’s safer because you’re not dealing with oncoming traffic. I really don’t stress over it.”
Lane also said that he hasn’t noticed additional traffic through his subdivision. City officials say they plan to call for a traffic study on the issue after school starts this fall.
