Dear Members,
By now most of you have heard about the plan to add a second level on Mopac that would run along the length of our neighborhood. Our group mission is to beautify and advance Rollingwood, we believe this Mopac plan would greatly impact our neighborhood (and the surrounding neighborhoods) in a negative way. We wanted to send out some information for you to review to bring an awareness to what is actually being planned so you can make your own informed decision and choice to get involved.
Thank you,
The RWC Officers
A big thank you to Wendi Hundley for putting this information together.
An overview of Mopac proposals- it’s long but please make sure you scroll to the bottom for information on how you can voice your opinion & ways to get involved
MoPac: North of MoPac Bridge:
The N. MoPac Express Lane project gets more complicated north of the MoPac Bridge. The south part of the project, from Slaughter to just before the MoPac bridge has enough right-of-way for the Express Lanes to have 2 lanes in both directions. However, once they reach the MoPac bridge (our current bottle neck area) there is only room to put one express lane in both directions (from Town Lake to183/Research area). So, the Express Lane system will bottleneck and face similar issues to what we face now. The construction on that part of the project (north of the MoPac bridge) is well underway at this time. The answer to the Express Lane getting backed up at the bottleneck is a variable toll system — which will demand more money to enter the toll as the volume of traffic increases. There will not be a cap on the amount they can charge for the express lane toll.
MoPac: South of MoPac Bridge:
The part of the project from MoPac bridge south to Slaughter Ln involves our area and is currently in the study period and open to public comment.
Below are the issues I am aware of that affect our area:
1) Northbound Express Lane Access:
It will be difficult to get onto the N. MoPac Express Lane from our area. If you do enter the N MoPac Express Lane (entrance north of Barton Skyway) your first opportunity to exit will be at 2222. We will still be able to get onto general purpose N. MoPac lanes using our current routes, but if utilized the first opportunity to enter the Express Lane will be at 2222.
• To gain access to the N. MoPac Express Lane from 2244/Zilker area: We’ll first travel south by either 1) Staying on the access road to get to Capital of Texas Highway (going through the traffic light at Barton Skyway) or 2) Merging onto S. MoPac using the entrance ramp right before Barton Skyway and then exiting at Capital of Texas Highway. We’ll have to U-turn at Capital of Texas Highway (where there is only one left turn lane) to turn left onto Capital of Texas Highway. Then possibly wait more light changes to turn left onto the N. MoPac access road. **That access road is already very precarious as we are required to merge with traffic coming from 360/71 that are also trying to merge onto N. MoPac. Once we enter N MoPac we will then be able to get onto the Express Lane via an entrance before Barton Skyway. The first opportunity to exit the express lane will be at 2222.
2) S. MoPac Express Lane Access:
The S. MoPac express lane/toll road project has the following areas of concern I’m aware of:
• To gain access the S. MoPac Express Lanes from 2244/Zilker we enter the general purpose MoPac lane using the onramp right before Barton Skyway. We then navigate over two lanes of traffic in a distance of about 1,800 feet to enter the Express Lane. (As I understand it 4,000 feet is what is recommended to safely navigate those lanes of traffic).
· Returning to our area from N. Austin we have 2 options: 1) Exit the S. MoPac Express Lane at 2222 and join the general-purpose lanes so we can take the 2244 exit when we get to our area (our exit is not available from the Express Lane) or 2) Use the S. MoPac Express Lane and exit at Capital of Texas Highway. Again, we’ll have to U-turn at Capital of Texas Highway (where there is only one left turn lane) to turn left onto Capital of Texas Highway. Then possibly wait more light changes to turn left onto the N. MoPac access road. **That access road is already very precarious as we are required to merge with traffic coming from 360/71 that are also trying to merge onto N. MoPac. Once we enter N MoPac we will then be able to get onto the general-purpose lane and take the Rollingwood/Westlake Hills exit.
3) Double Decker
The proposed double decker will be elevated 25 feel over MoPac (from before RW Dr to Caesar Chaves). The double decker will have 2 lanes. 1 lane will carry N. MoPac express lane users directly onto Cesar Chaves. The other lane will carry S. MoPac Express Lane users from Cesar Chaves onto the S. MoPac Express Lane.
• Light pollution: The double decker will have to be lighted. The lights will be an additional 25-50 feet up and will contribute a great deal of light pollution to the park and the surrounding residential neighborhood.
• Noise Pollution: Having a double decker will be noisy. The representatives assured us they would abide by the noise standards allowed for a double decker (I didn’t find that reassuring). Their answer to questions about solution to block the noise pollution was that they could build sound barrier walls on the elevated portion (which would be aesthetically undesirable/offensive).
4) Bottle Neck & The Double Decker
The N. MoPac Express Lane from Slaughter to just before the MoPac bridge has enough right-of-way for the Express Lanes to have 2 lanes in both directions. However, once the N. Mopac Express Lane reaches the MoPac bridge (our current bottle neck area) there is only room for one express lane in both directions (from Town Lake to183/Research area). So, the Express Lane system will bottleneck and face similar issues to what we face now. With no cap on the toll it will be a premium to get into that one faster north bound Express Lane.
At the meeting one of the representatives said in referring to the Double Decker “When the 2-lanes end and we have to drop down to one lane, we have to do something with the extra lane”. The “something” they chose to do is an elevated double decker bridge over Zilker Park and residential neighborhoods.
The representative said there are other alternatives which have explored: Widening the bridge which will mean some park land will need to be taken into the right of way. 2) Going under instead of over. 3) reconfiguring the existing 1st and 5th street exits.
5) 2244/Bee Caves Road - Increased Use & Special Events
The City of Rollingwood has proposed that CTRMA and TxDot take a look at creative design solutions (like those being considered for Slaughter Lane) to address the regular traffic and special event issues that impact 2244. 2244/Bee Caves Road is a major artery for all Westbank including Rollingwood, Westlake Hills, Bee Cave, and Lakeway.
• As part of the improvement CTRMA has opted to move the southbound Access Ramp for Rollingwood/Westlake Hills further back to improve visibility and give more time to merge right to get over to Bee Cave Rd. The bigger issue that isn’t addressed is people are merging left to get to from Zilker Park/Rollingwood to N. MoPac and the opposite way people coming off S. MoPac are merging right to get to Bee Caves. That problem isn’t addressed by moving the access road further back. One suggestion from Alderwoman Pattillo was to make a direct connection from the regular MoPac Lanes to 2244 — avoiding the merging problems
• TxDot is funded to make improvements on Bee Cave from Walsh Tarlton to Red Bud. Yay! The improvements will include a center turn lane, a shoulder for bikes and a sidewalk that is 15 feet from the road. With all the improvements we’re likely to see an increase in use of the road, which will impact the already congested 2244/MoPac interchange.
• The new Endeavor Office Buildings at Bee Caves and MoPac will bring an additional 900 people who will be entering and exiting Bee Caves Road at least twice daily once this project is complete. So again more traffic concerns but nothing has been propose to help the intersection.
• Special Events - Bee Caves Road and Barton Springs are often closed for special events like Trail of of Lights, ACL, Kite Festival, etc. During those closures we are sent up to Barton Skyway to get in line at the light and use that as a turn around to get N Mopac. It’s very difficult to go anywhere during special events now, but with the proposed MoPac traffic flow patterns it will become impossible.
6) Barton Springs Road - Bike and Pedestrian Issues
As part of their project CTRMA has made a promise to improve bike and pedestrian paths as much a possible.
• Widening MoPac may impact the bike trail that leads from Barton Springs Rd to Lady Bird Lake. It will likely have to be made narrower to accommodate the wider MoPac lanes. **It is my understanding that they are not allowed to take away access we already had before the tolled roads but I don’t know if this applies to bike and pedestrian routes.**
• The CTRMA proposal for Bikes and Pedestrian from our area to cross Barton Springs Road and get to Zilker Park is 1) We walk over to where the Lady Bird Lake Trail intersects with Barton Springs (along west side of frontage road where there is no sidewalk (where a gentleman was killed last year) - and part of the way is against flow of the bike lane) 2) Cross at the makeshift bike crossing that currently exists 3) They want to add a sidewalk in the right of way under the bridge up to where Rollingwood intersects with Mopac. 4) We cross the road there 4) Finally we cross Barton Springs Road to get to Zilker Park.
Alternative Ideas Proposed:
· A walking bridge across Barton Springs has been proposed by Alderwoman Pattillo of Rollingwood she and other city officials have already been in talks with the City of Austin about it who are supportive.
· Traffic Dampening at Barton Springs and Rollingwood Drive was proposed in the form of traffic circles or stop signs at Rollingwood Dr & Barton Springs
· Sidewalks were proposed by Rollingwood - from the Lady Bird Lake Trail to Bee Caves Blvd (connecting into existing ADA Sidewalks on Bee Caves) and on up to Liberty Park Dr. to connect with the ADA Sidewalks there.
Want to get involved or voice your opinion read this...
1) MOST IMPORTANT: Submit written comments to CAMPO through emailcampo@campotexas.org before theApril 1st meeting. Comments can also be submitted by phone (512-974-2275), or by mail (CAMPO at P.O. Box 1088 Austin TX 78767) or through a survey (link below). All comments will be provided to the Board before the vote.
When e-mailing copy the following people:
City of Rollingwood:
mayorfarrell@cityofrollingwood.com
administrator@cityofrollingwood.com
Travis County Commissioners:
Brigid Shea:Brigid.Shea@traviscountytx.gov &Barbara.Rush@traviscountytx.gov
Ron Davis: ron.davis@traviscountytx.gov
Gerald Daugherty: Gerald.Daugherty@traviscountytx.gov
Margaret Gomez: Margaret.Gomez@traviscountytx.gov
Sarah Eckhardt: Sarah.Eckhardt@traviscountytx.gov
A sample letter to help them get started:
Dear City, County, TxDOT, CTRMA and CAMPO officials:
The CAMPO board is supposed to vote on the 2035 Plan proposal (and whether or not to include the Mopac amendments) April 1st. This leaves many people in West Austin with no public testimony opportunities. We just found out about the Double Decker February 26th, 2015. Please don’t approve the amendment to add two toll lanes in each direction. Any expansion in this area should be limited, WITHOUT double decker flyovers through West Austin, Zilker Park, and Austin High School. I ask the CAMPO Board to slow down this process so that our community may have time to learn more about the proposal and provide input to the decision. This Double Decker will be built over our parks and our residential community.
2) We need people to show up at these next two meetings:
Tuesday, March 31st, from 6-7:30 pm at the Austin High School Cafeteria to discuss the MoPac expansion.
The final CAMPO public meetingApril 1, 2015 5:30-7:30 at One Texas Center 505 Barton Springs Rd. Ste 325. This is the last public meeting before the voteon April 2nd.
3) Provide Feedback to the Central Texas Regional Mobile Authority (CTRMA) through the websitewww.mopacSouth.com, by fax (512) 996-9784 or mail Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority C/O Mopac Enviromental Study 3300 N. IH-35 Ste 300 Austin Texas 78705
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