290 construction near Belterra (Austin, Spring, Dripping Springs: budget, travel, work)

[vazzupp]

Does any one know, what they are doing to 290W past Nuttybrown road?
Looks like, they added a center lane and made road towads OakHill single lane? Traffic is going to get much worse with singe lane towards town.

[Trainwreck20]

Heh, a co-worker was about to rip someones head off after he experienced the 'new' commute today....he said it about doubled his travel time . I haven't seen it and he had no idea about what they were trying to accomplish.

[vazzupp]

Exactly.. my commute from Sawyer Ranch to 'Y' took about 20 minutes this morning. Hope they make it two lanes either side. Not sure why one would need a center lane, they are no streets between lights.

[Trainwreck20]

Not sure why one would need a center lane, they are no streets between lights.

Lol...that is EXACTLY what my co-worker said....

[iceshots]

They are simply expanding the width of the road, same as they have already done further out towards Dripping Springs. The final road will be two lanes on each side with a continual turning lane in the middle. The middle lane makes it a lot safer in case oncoming cars have to swerve.

They have done this is a few places. Some have been completed, another section just east of DS is still under construction.

The lane restrictions added about 10 minutes yesterday when I came in around 7am. This morning I came in just after 8am and there was no delay at all.

I have also noticed that a lot of people seem to be taking MoPac/45/1826 to go around the back way. That would work nicely for people coming in from Austin and heading to Belterra, Highpointe or Sawyer Ranch.

[austin-steve]

Hope they make it two lanes either side. Not sure why one would need a center lane, they are no streets between lights.

That's what will happen. With the growth in Dripping Springs, there is no way that HWY 290 would be downsized. Whenever I drive out that way I'm impressed with the effort to keep the road infrustructure caught up and wonder why we've had to suffer so many years with our bottleneck at the "Y" in Oak Hill.

I live just a couple of miles past the Y, but now I have to budget 20 minutes in the mornings to get from El Rey up onto the freeway past Oak Hill. Someday it will be a nice straight shot, but I suspect it's going to get a lot worse in the next several years before the toll road is built.

Steve.

[vazzupp]

Thanks for the information. Good to know.
Hope they get to fixing the 'Y' soon. For short term, atleast adding an extra lane on the both sides for a couple of miles eases the traffic a bit.