Austin transportation committee weighs in on I-35 expansion plans
While the Texas Department of Transportation wraps up its final week of this round of public input on different versions of the I-35 expansion project in the works, the Austin City Council’s transportation committee weighed in with a letter asking for more attention to be paid to pedestrians, bicyclists, and public-transit users around the highway. The committee also wants TxDOT to consider how highway noise affects neighborhoods near the interstate and taking more measures, such as two free HOV lanes among toll lanes, to keep traffic moving on I-35 and notes that the city needs better east-west corridors. (Austin Business Journal, KXAN)
Oak Hill neighbors object to concrete plant at ACC Pinnacle campus
On Monday, the Austin Community College board of trustees heard from around 20 Oak Hill residents objecting to its decision to allow a concrete batch plant to operate in their area. The plant would be on the college’s Pinnacle campus and would be used for about three years, starting this summer. It would be operated by Colorado River Constructors, which has been contracted by the Texas Department of Transportation to widen US Highway 290 and State Highway 71 aka “the Y in Oak Hill.” The Oak Hill Association of Neighborhoods president asked the board to rescind its decision on the matter and open up the process to public input. Residents have been offered the opportunity to meet with representatives of TxDOT and Colorado River Constructors on April 17 at the Pinnacle campus. A petition started by a resident of Oak Hill maintains that “a concrete batch plant poses a huge risk to the health and wellbeing of the residents and the environmentally sensitive region our run-off recharges (Edwards Aquifer). Light and noise and smog pollution of trucks and equipment would be a nuisance, but concrete plants create hazardous byproducts that would enter our air and water, carried on the breeze right to our homes, by the rain to our aquifer.” (Austin Monitor)
Marble Falls gets its first big development in three decades
A new, large-scale residential development slated for Marble Falls will be the first for the area in more than 20 years. The 240-acre Gregg Ranch, located near state Highway 71 and US Highway 281, will feature 700 single-family homes and 250 multifamily units. Pulte Homes is the first builder on the block and is preselling about 100 homes, mostly one-story houses, starting at prices in the low $300s. The two- to four-bedroom houses will measure 1,500 to more than 3,000 square feet. (CultureMap Austin)
More headlines:
What will rise across toll road from Tesla gigafactory? Sources say a SpaceX facility is planned (ABJ)
Court rejects Paxton challenge to Austin business curfew, but mask mandate appeal awaits (AAS)
Austin Public Library To Start Opening Its Doors Again Next Month (KUT)
Round Rock City Council votes to end local coronavirus mask mandate, rule expires April 22 (AAS)
