By Andy Sevilla

While Hays County representatives say the proposed SH 45 Southwest extension is a done deal, some Austin council members and their city’s transportation department continue fighting the project.

“I remain opposed to the construction of the road (SH 45SW), and expect to continue voting against it,” Austin Councilman Chris Riley said in a telephone interview Monday night. “It remains to be seen if it actually is a done deal. Time will tell.”

Riley, joined by Austin Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole, voted Monday night against including SH45 SW in the CAMPO 2040 Plan. That plan will serve as the regional transportation plan extending through 2040 in CAMPO’s jurisdiction — Bastrop, Burnett, Caldwell, Hays, Travis and Williamson counties — and is expected to be finalized next May.

Austin Councilman Bill Spelman also voted against the project’s inclusion into the 2040 Plan via a proxy carried by Riley. Leander Councilman David Siebold was the fourth CAMPO board member to dissent.

Austin representatives are up in arms due to environmental concerns they say the southwest extension of SH45, which would connect the north end of FM 1626 in Buda to the south end of MoPac, raises. 

The Austin City Council affirmed their opposition to SH 45SW by passing a resolution against the project’s construction, though Commissioners Courts in Hays and Travis counties have voted in support of the project and collectively have passed $20 million in funding for the estimated $100 million four-lane tolled highway.

“It’s been in the works for 26 years now,” Hays County Pct. 2 Commissioner Mark Jones told the Hays Free Press in a phone interview May 27. “I’ve been involved with it since I became commissioner; and when (Travis County Pct. 3) Commissioner (Gerald) Daugherty was elected, we saw we had a small window to get this done.” 

Jones said that with Hays and Travis counties’ funding approval for their share of the project, the Texas Department of Transportation’s funding commitment and the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority’s ability to issue bonded debt for the toll road, SH45 SW is inching toward construction. 

But not everyone is sold.

“Dirt is not turning on that road yet,” Riley said. “And the nature of government projects is they often wind up taking longer than expected. Until it is actually under construction, then I think it’s a little premature to say it’s a done deal.” 

Riley said the proposed toll road would traverse “our most sensitive land over the (Edwards) Aquifer — ” a major groundwater source for Hays and Travis counties.

Moreover, Austin’s transportation department also recommended dissent in a June 9 memo to council for two proposed highways from FM1626 to I-35, which could move traffic from MoPac to SH45 SW to FM1626 and onto I-35. One of those is proposed as four-lane toll ways (Buda49) and is expected for construction in 2030. 

No construction date has been identified for the proposed six-lane extension of FM1626 to I-35 (Hays145), which according to the Austin traffic department would run near and parallel to the proposed Buda49. 

Cedar Park Mayor Matt Powell questioned why Austin and its officials on the CAMPO board set policy on roads that are not in their jurisdiction. 

Riley told the Hays Free Press that although SH45 SW is outside Austin city limits, the roadway would have a significant impact on the city’s transportation system and on environmental areas they’re deeply concerned about.

“Completing SH45 southwest would mean we’re channeling additional traffic onto the south end of MoPac,” Riley said. “To suggest that Austin has no interest in MoPac is, I think, contrary to what most Austinites would believe. We have a very direct interests at stake in those issues.”

Further, Riley said CAMPO is a regional planning board “so it’s perfectly appropriate for us to act on projects that affect the whole region, even if they happen to lie outside of our city limits.”

Ultimately, CAMPO’s board, including Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell, voted to keep SH45 SW and the proposed roadways connecting FM1626 to I-35 in Hays County among the more than 800 road projects proposed for the CAMPO 2040 Plan.

Monday night’s vote allows CAMPO staff to model all the proposed road projects to identify what they mean to and how they affect the regional transportation system. The CAMPO board will still need to vote on which projects to include in the plan.