Taylor Mayor Brandt Rydell, Williamson County Precinct 4 Commissioner Russ Boles, United States Congressman Pete Sessions and State Representative Caroline Harris joined other community leaders to grab shovels and commemorate the start of construction on Segment 2 of Samsung Highway.
“There’s a lot of progress being made here that I view, and I think most people here view, as part of the future for Williamson County and the U.S. for 70, 80, 90 years,” said Sessions. “The development of leading edge AI, and not the chips but the wafers that are going to be done here, is what will propel America to its future for a long, long time.”
The groundbreaking ceremony took place June 2, with spokespeople from Samsung, the engineers and construction company representatives also present.
Segment 2 will extend Samsung Highway from County Road 404 to FM 3349. Segment 1 connects CR 404 to FM 973. When finished, it will be a four-lane road connecting FM 973 from Samsung to the future Southeast Loop.
“We’ve seen a tremendous increase in traffic, from construction traffic to residential traffic. One of the things we’re able to do with this road is to straighten it out and widen it, and that’s going to allow for citizens to get back and forth safely, and it’s going to allow us to get the construction materials in and out of the facility. It’s a project the county has really pushed for,” Boles said.
Funded by the 2019 voter-approved Williamson County Road Bond Program, Segment 2 comes with a $5.13 million price tag. The entire project is expected to cost about $22 million, with Samsung contributing nearly $3 million into it plus the right-of-way through Samsung property.
“I want to say that since Samsung has come to Williamson County they have lived up to every promise they have made. They have done the construction, they have hired the people,” the commissioner said. “This shows we have a great partner with Samsung.”
“Taylor couldn’t have done this by itself,” Rydell said. “It took strong partnerships at the county, state and federal level and I’ll forever be grateful for the team we were able to assemble and the hard work that was put in to make this happen. It’s going to change my community, the community I grew up in.”
Segment 1 is expected to be finished in August. Segment 2 is scheduled for completion in fall of 2024.
