Up until this week, the improvements to Anderson Mill/RM 620 were funded for construction but they were waiting to see those plans matched with the other work to be done on RM 620, said Bruce Byron, TxDOT spokesperson, in a Four Points News report from August 2019.
The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization board voted on June 8 to redistribute funds from the RM 620 N/Anderson Mill Road to I-35 improvements.
Brian Thompto, chairman of the Steiner Ranch Neighborhood Association, shares his reaction the CAMPO board vote:
This was a very disappointing – but for those who have been following Steiner Ranch Neighborhood Association, not a totally unexpected result.
The data and people have weighed in on the importance of 620/ Anderson Mill Rd. which out-scored $172 million worth of other projects CAMPO leapfrogged in front of the $25 million overpass project. This 620 project garnered the top marks of any cat-7 roadway in project scoring and has repeatedly garnered highest public input for 5 years. But most of the CAMPO board looked the other way and funded their local projects
Was important to see Travis County Commissioner Brigid Shea speak up strongly “You have an overwhelming request from the public. You have traffic data that supports the 620 projects, and you have a public promise that was made. I can’t support this.” Jimmy Flannigan also cited the RM 620 inequity in his decision to not support the CAMPO plan.
The CAMPO board did agree to keep deferred projects at the top of the list for future funding – the real question – will they re-fund RM 620 at the next possible chance?
There was zero acknowledgment or discussion about whether skipping over the top ranked project was a good decision, and no mention of it from the board minus Shea and Flanningan’s protest and a sympathetic indicator from another along the lines of “nobody got what they wanted”.
Well, this is not about the board members getting what they wanted – it should be about improving the region and prioritizing funds to align with the most urgent regional priorities – just as was done for IH-35. Let’s hope CAMPO can return to that posture the next time funds become available.
A big thank you to all who took the time to write CAMPO – once again RM 620 got the most input by far… this time to a deaf target audience. But your track record for speaking up cannot be ignored. We will get RM 620 projects funded again. The most important thing will be to do it without moving the construction date planned for 2024 – this is still possible and is the right thing to do.