Boles details county’s road projects at Chamber luncheon
Until recently, most new road construction was focused on western Williamson County, but these days you’d be hard pressed to find a thoroughfare not being worked on in and around the Taylor/Hutto area, an elected official said.
On Monday, May 15, Williamson County Precinct 4 Commissioner Russ Boles said the county is committed to road development in our area to accommodate the explosive growth associated with Samsung Austin Semiconductor and other factors during this month’s Taylor Chamber of Commerce’s luncheon at the Taylor Mansion Estate & Crystal Ballroom.
“I really think, in many ways, we are the center of Texas, and the center of the United States on things that are going on,” said Round Rock native Boles, who has served as commissioner for four years. “It wasn’t an investment that was totally needed 10 years ago, and the county was building roads while I was commissioner on the west side, but now that it’s time to build roads on the east side, I want you to know that I have had fabulous support by the commissioners.”
New projects highlighted by Boles include Segment 1 of the Southeast Loop, which will be a three-lane road originating at Texas 130 and County Road 138 until County Road 137, which will be completed by summer.
Simultaneously, Segment 3 of the loop, which will eventually stretch from 130 to U.S. 79, and involves building a bridge over the thoroughfare as well as the Union Pacific Railroad tracks, is also under construction and is slated to be finished by summer 2025.
Boles said he is proud of the fact that the county, with help from the state, is building the bridge for the eventual needs of the area’s growth, instead of for the shorter term.
“One of the things that is exciting to me when I drive down 79, and I understand the construction going through there, is you will see that we are building the girders for segment 3, and what gets me excited is there are two sets of them,” Boles said. “As that project came forward, we had always intended to have two bridges. So when the traffic comes, and it’s going to come quicker than we all think, eventually we are going to be able to bifurcate that traffic.”
Boles said this planning is necessary given the escalating costs associated with construction.
“Construction costs have gotten to the point where it has gotten really hard to manage, so that and we were trying to manage that down to one bridge to go across there,” Boles said. “And in the middle of negotiating with Samsung the state of Texas, I want to thank Governor (Greg) Abbott. The state really stepped up, so that we could build that road, so that it could be what it is supposed to be someday. So that’s your commissioner geek moment for the day.”
Boles also detailed other recent collaborations the county has made with the Texas Department of Transportation on an expansion of County Road 401 to four lanes into the Samsung fab site, adding dedicated turn lanes at FM 973, and more.
“The state has been really helpful, and Samsung has been really helpful,” Boles said. “But we know there is a lot of traffic, and we are working with Samsung and the state to make sure we can get people in and out of that road safely, but it’s a process.”
Additionally, the county has been working with the City of Taylor on an expansion to County Road 366, with funds originating from a previous bond election, and met with them last week to solicit new project recommendations for the area for a potential new bond proposal, Boles said.
“The city is going to kind of come tell us some projects that they would like, the county is going to mention some projects that we are looking forward to, and the bond committee is going to take that information and go back and make a recommendation,” Boles said. “They may need to say, ‘Hey we need all these roads, or we need half of these roads, or we need none of these roads, and then with that recommendation, the commissioners go to work to see what makes sense. Taxpayers’ money is precious, so we are always keeping that in mind as well so we are looking to see what we can do.”
