290 should be an Interstate between Houston and Austin.

aggiehawg said:

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AgGrad99 said:

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aggiehawg said:

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AgGrad99 said:

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I believe they're going to expand 183 all the way to I-35...which makes a lot of sense, given the population trends, and the need to alleviate some traffic on I-35 coming into town.

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As a toll road?

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I'd assume so. Everything past Lakeline is a toll already...I assume they'll just expand it as a toll. They've also just completed adding toll lanes, to most of 183 south of Lakeline. (It's also a toll heading to the airport now).

Nothing like taking an existing route, that people have used for decades, and slapping tolls on them.

For some reason, our State is incapable of building new highways in our cities now, without it being a toll road

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The Hubs and I were still around for that original transition when 183 became a toll road virtually overnight. Wejust stopped using 183.

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I'm confused by this. "183" just became a toll road this year when the express lanes opened When 183A (the toll road) was built, it was a completely separate road from 620 north to past Leander. The old 183 going through Cedar Park and Leander is/was still there. You can drive it today as you could back then. I'd rather pay the tolls and avoid the 30 minutes of traffic fighting north from Lakeline, but the option is still there.

Mopac toll is hands down the most frustrating toll road in Austin. Multiple times I've been stuck behind idiots driving 50-55 in the single toll lane while the free traffic is cruising at 70+, and there's no easy way to bail out of the toll lane once you get in it.

aggiehawg said:

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twelve12twelve said:

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Why are they not receiving the gas tax funds? Oil industry brochures love to spout how much they give for state funds.

That tunnel under Ladybird Lake is gonna be a massive undertaking, hope they have some good contractors that know how to build a tunnel that meets interstate traffic/safety standards.

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I'll be impressed if they even manage to get the basic engineering correct. The ever present risk of flooding with two dams upstream, one massive, Mansfield Dam, the entrances and exits to such a tunnel would have to be further removed from the existing shores.

In my ignorance, a big bridge over that lake would be cheaper and less complicated seems to me.

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Therein lies the issue: it makes sense. But, this is Austin and a new bridge over the Colorado would be most unsightly to the locals, especially to those with lakeview condos.

Get ready for the Cap and Stitch project downtown. Was at a luncheon and City Councilman Chito Vela was one of the speakers. He was creaming his pants over this project.

The Chicken Ranch said:

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290 should be an Interstate between Houston and Austin.

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Yep. Seems like every weekend, everybody in Austin wants to go to Houston and everybody in Houston wants to go to Austin. Giddings needs a bypass. Manor just needs to move out of the way. Ain't no fixing that mess at this point.

SB IV said:

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Get ready for the Cap and Stitch project downtown. Was at a luncheon and City Councilman Chito Vela was one of the speakers. He was creaming his pants over this project.

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How are they paying for it now that the feds pulled their $105MM in funding last August?

Sims said:

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Rule of thumb is, if it's obvious what the need is, TxDOT is planning to start planning it. If TxDOT has approved a plan, the need has doubled. If the plan is constructed, the current demand has already overwhelmed the new infrastructure.

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This. Just like the Grand Parkway, it's already overwhelmed. Engineers are some of the stupidest people I've ever met.

atmtws said:

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Sims said:

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Rule of thumb is, if it's obvious what the need is, TxDOT is planning to start planning it. If TxDOT has approved a plan, the need has doubled. If the plan is constructed, the current demand has already overwhelmed the new infrastructure.

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This. Just like the Grand Parkway, it's already overwhelmed. Engineers are the stupidest people ever

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FIFY

Slicer97 said:

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Manor just needs to move out of the way. Ain't no fixing that mess at this point.

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Holy **** - it has been over a decade since I've around Manor. Just looked at a map, what a disaster.

SB IV said:

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Get ready for the Cap and Stitch project downtown. Was at a luncheon and City Councilman Chito Vela was one of the speakers. He was creaming his pants over this project.

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Looks like they cut/pasted the I-45 plans for downtown Houston.

The Chicken Ranch said:

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290 should be an Interstate between Houston and Austin.

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If I'm reading Google Maps correctly, it's already a controlled-access divided highway all the way from Houston to Austin except for a few short sections near Brenham, Giddings, and Elgin.

Other than the objections of some roadside businesses that would get demolished or bypassed by the new road, I don't see a good reason not to upgrade it to Interstate standards.

AgGrad99 said:

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aggiehawg said:

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AgGrad99 said:

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I believe they're going to expand 183 all the way to I-35...which makes a lot of sense, given the population trends, and the need to alleviate some traffic on I-35 coming into town.

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As a toll road?

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I'd assume so. Everything past Lakeline is a toll already...I assume they'll just expand it as a toll. They've also just completed adding toll lanes, to most of 183 south of Lakeline. (It's also a toll heading to the airport now).

Nothing like taking an existing route, that people have used for decades, and slapping tolls on them.

For some reason, our State is incapable of building new highways in our cities now, without it being a toll road

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Because Texas has refused to increase its state gasoline tax in 35 years despite 142% inflation and 87% population growth since then. We gotta pay for the highways somehow.

I'm talking about north of it. Trust me, almost nobody knows better how much has been built up north of 29. I'm the backup engineer for a certain major telecom provider in that area. We get notice about every bit of that development and have to design fiber networks for it. It's more that at least they got a tollway at all. East, there is nothing.

txyaloo said:

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SB IV said:

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Get ready for the Cap and Stitch project downtown. Was at a luncheon and City Councilman Chito Vela was one of the speakers. He was creaming his pants over this project.

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How are they paying for it now that the feds pulled their $105MM in funding last August?

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Not sure. The luncheon wasn't that long ago. All I know is, if they build it that park will be one big homeless fiesta.

So you're the reason Verizon is awful out there!

Yes, sir. Getting out to Lampasas has never been easier, now if they could just get the Y done. Then 30 years from now we will get through Manor.

SB IV said:

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From 2nd hand info, all the TxDOT projects in Austin area that would potentially improve 290 Austin to Elgin and 71 Austin to Bastrop, keep having their budgets redirected back to 35.

They atleast finally broke ground on building the next 71 bridge near Berdolls

The light on 71 at Cedar Creek HS is really dangerous.

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71 needs a Bastrop bypass. Those lights west of town are a ballbuster every time I go through there.

I've been gone from Austin 15 years now. I haven't been back since, but just hearing about all this....I can't even imagine!! I used to have a view of downtown skyline from my apartment off Southwest Parkway. From pictures online, I wouldn't even recognize downtown anymore.

Back in the late 90s, early 2000s, I had business interests that resulted in being invited to presentations by TXDOT on their next five year and ten year plans. (Business was RE development related.)

I was questioning them about chicken or egg questions. What comes first? Developers having meetings and making requests? Or some bureaucrat deciding where they wanted development to happen and aiming to put in the infrastructure to support it?

The dirty thing there was these "professional updates" by invitation only created mini-land booms around those areas when nothing was even happening yet. The cycle is always, new highway with feeder roads, usually a loop around more congested roads, land near feeder roads gets snapped up for commercial development, gas stations, fast food, convenience stores, grocery stores were the last but they tied up the land with options in the meantime.

Some people got rich (original sellers) and many more bought a pig in a poke when those projects never happened. I moved back to Austin after my first husband died. So I was there when the whole we need a new airport stuff was happening. Manor was the heavily rumored favorite for the new airport. People were rushing to buy land in the area and were hornswoggled.

Of course, it didn't help that around the same time, a huge subdivision called Harris Branch (I think) that was built on a former old landfill that was still leaking methane, that was getting into the houses. What a cluster!

I think the funniest thing to me was years later, when the new airport was being built upon and old air force base, Bergstrom, was located they came to a former client (and good friend) of mine to sell some land he had out there. Why? because it was a landfill and the concern was bird strikes in approach routes. Not like he was going to do anything else with that land so if somebody wanted to pay him to get rid of it, okey doke gotta deal.

Austin will always be weird just in different ways.

I've been driving to the Llano area from NE Houston during hunting season and several other times a year for a decade. Have learned to leave Houston in time to go thru the Austin area on 290, 183, and 29 around noon. No school or commute traffic at that time. I'm always happy to get to the 290 toll road and off the regular 290.
They need to expand that toll road about 30 miles to the East.

aggiehawg said:

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I think the funniest thing to me was years later, when the new airport was being built upon and old air force base, Bergstrom, was located they came to a former client (and good friend) of mine to sell some land he had out there. Why? because it was a landfill and the concern was bird strikes in approach routes. Not like he was going to do anything else with that land so if somebody wanted to pay him to get rid of it, okey doke gotta deal.

Austin will always be weird just in different ways.

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I heard a talk from a 'consultant' after Austin acquired Bergstrom AFB. The Air Force had decided to close Bergstrom and offered it to the city. In typical Austin style, they hired this guy to determine if Bergstrom could be made into an airport. They paid him a jillion dollars to tell them "yeah, it's got runways, it's got a control tower, it has fuel storage facilities. Yep, you can make an airport out of it."

Classic Austin.

Martin Cash said:

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aggiehawg said:

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I think the funniest thing to me was years later, when the new airport was being built upon and old air force base, Bergstrom, was located they came to a former client (and good friend) of mine to sell some land he had out there. Why? because it was a landfill and the concern was bird strikes in approach routes. Not like he was going to do anything else with that land so if somebody wanted to pay him to get rid of it, okey doke gotta deal.

Austin will always be weird just in different ways.

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I heard a talk from a 'consultant' after Austin acquired Bergstrom AFB. The Air Force had decided to close Bergstrom and offered it to the city. In typical Austin style, they hired this guy to determine if Bergstrom could be made into an airport. They paid him a jillion dollars to tell them "yeah, it's got runways, it's got a control tower, it has fuel storage facilities. Yep, you can make an airport out of it."

Classic Austin.

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It came with Nuclear missile silos also. Got to survey one to fill in.

knoxtom said:

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The annual "TxDOT sucks" post. We repeat this every few years.

Here is what is happening with TxDOT.

In 2024 they had a right of way budget of 1.5bn and they spent something like 2.3 bn. This is ROW alone. The Austin District was not irresponsible and they only went over by a few million bucks. Some of the other Districts went 70% and more over their budgets. No one cared.

This money overspend comes out of their 2025 budget that ended Oct 1, 2025. That means that in 2025 they had the 1.5 bn MINUS the overspend of 800 million, minus subsurface utility...BOOM, there was nothing left and they shut down for 2025. So now we are in the 2026 fiscal year.

The official budget was again 1.5 billion for TxDOT ROW but that number is deceiving. First in 2026 they did not receive the gas tax money they thought was coming. Second, the feds didn't pay what was expected from the infrastructure bill and the normal fed money. Third, the well money was significantly lower than expected. (Yes, TxDOT gets a lot of their money from a tax on well heads). Fourth, subsurface utility took a WHOLE lot more money than expected. Fifth, Sixth... So Right of Way had maybe half the money they expected to have in 2026. So 2026 has become a wash and TxDOT is doing very little in projects.

And this problem wasn't just right of way. Planning and Design had WAY less money than expected, construction had WAY less money than expected, maintenance is the last one cut and they don't have any money. Everything had way less than what they were expecting.

And then money was shifted to the border wall... Abbot wanted it.


Long story longer, TxDOT had no money in 2026, just like 2025. Projections for 2027 are that there won't be much money, but hopes are high that the TxDOT thing will get going again in FY 2028, starting in October 2027.


So why don't they build a toll road or some sort of PPP? Well back around 2022 the Governor saw how many roads were owned or licensed by Ferrovial through the toll systems and freaked out. He literally said "no more toll" and that business instantly dried up. The only toll road since that time was the attempt in Cibolo, which was stopped by the City of Cibolo and was done by a private company. New toll in Texas is dead, the only thing left is existing road contracts.

So what can be done? Nothing. Texas and the feds choose the border wall over roads, bridges, maintenance, etc. They pulled all of the hurricane drainage funding and sent it to the border, there is no action on City roads, County roads, State roads, FM roads, or interstate roads. The bridge work from the infrastructure bill is gone.

Will they look at 290 in the near future? No way. They are taking IH35 under the lake and rebuilding it all the way to North Austin. I think the budget for that project is something like 13.5 bn. They are finishing IH45 around downtown Houston for a cool 14bn. No money left.


All I can say is Deal with it. You all thought a border wall and cheap gas was so important that you were willing to give up all other infrastructure projects for it. Now it is what it is.

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This is the best analysis of what's going on with TxDOT at the moment. Everything is this post is identical to what I've been told about TxDOT and their funding, and it's got a lot of ROWAPS providers wondering what the hell they're going to do.

As an aside, I got to see an early schematic of the border wall. Once people find out that they're planning to split Big Bend National Park in half with the border wall, people are going to lose their ***** I'll be surprised if it ever happens. This article has a drawing similar to what I saw.
https://www.marfapublicradio.org/news/2026-02-18/border-wall-plans-now-set-to-include-big-bend-national-park

I would absolutely oppose a wall in big bend. There would be zero reason for it there. An ugly wate of money is all it would be as there is pretty much zero cross border traffic there due to geography

Are you expecting government to do the right thing?

Grew up in Elgin. I remember when 290 was a 2 lane road east of Manor and you didn't hit a stop light until 290/95. Right where Southside Market is and then one more at the next 290/95 intersection and then nothing until Giddings.

12thMan86 said:

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SB IV said:

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From 2nd hand info, all the TxDOT projects in Austin area that would potentially improve 290 Austin to Elgin and 71 Austin to Bastrop, keep having their budgets redirected back to 35.

They atleast finally broke ground on building the next 71 bridge near Berdolls

The light on 71 at Cedar Creek HS is really dangerous.

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Do you live in the area ? I'm in Double Eagle ranch behind Berdolls. I take my life in my hands every day, especially if going to Bastrop. Have considered moving back to Lakeway as I might die on 71!!!

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Yes, live in Bastrop. Every day commuting in feels like the opening scene in Office Space...which was filmed in Austin.

MouthBQ98 said:

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What in the hell in TXDOT doing with the only major highway directly between Austin and Houston?

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OP being a zip code snob!

71 to I10 is way better than 290. Not everyone lives in Hutto or Temple or Liberty Hill.

71 out of Austin only hits 2 lights (I think), and they're well outside of Austin.

I only hop on 290 if I'm going into north Houston, and even then, I'm jumping on 290 from Bastrop/21.

I have been working for the TxDOT Financial Management division and living in Austin since January 2019. I think there should be an interstate freeway between Austin and Houston, but that is unlikely to happen in the near future because TxDOT is already spending their limited resources on other construction projects, such as the I-35 Capital Express North.

https://www.txdot.gov/mymobility35/projects/capex-north.html

knoxtom said:

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The annual "TxDOT sucks" post. We repeat this every few years.

Here is what is happening with TxDOT.

In 2024 they had a right of way budget of 1.5bn and they spent something like 2.3 bn. This is ROW alone. The Austin District was not irresponsible and they only went over by a few million bucks. Some of the other Districts went 70% and more over their budgets. No one cared.

This money overspend comes out of their 2025 budget that ended Oct 1, 2025. That means that in 2025 they had the 1.5 bn MINUS the overspend of 800 million, minus subsurface utility...BOOM, there was nothing left and they shut down for 2025. So now we are in the 2026 fiscal year.

The official budget was again 1.5 billion for TxDOT ROW but that number is deceiving. First in 2026 they did not receive the gas tax money they thought was coming. Second, the feds didn't pay what was expected from the infrastructure bill and the normal fed money. Third, the well money was significantly lower than expected. (Yes, TxDOT gets a lot of their money from a tax on well heads). Fourth, subsurface utility took a WHOLE lot more money than expected. Fifth, Sixth... So Right of Way had maybe half the money they expected to have in 2026. So 2026 has become a wash and TxDOT is doing very little in projects.

And this problem wasn't just right of way. Planning and Design had WAY less money than expected, construction had WAY less money than expected, maintenance is the last one cut and they don't have any money. Everything had way less than what they were expecting.

And then money was shifted to the border wall... Abbot wanted it.


Long story longer, TxDOT had no money in 2026, just like 2025. Projections for 2027 are that there won't be much money, but hopes are high that the TxDOT thing will get going again in FY 2028, starting in October 2027.


So why don't they build a toll road or some sort of PPP? Well back around 2022 the Governor saw how many roads were owned or licensed by Ferrovial through the toll systems and freaked out. He literally said "no more toll" and that business instantly dried up. The only toll road since that time was the attempt in Cibolo, which was stopped by the City of Cibolo and was done by a private company. New toll in Texas is dead, the only thing left is existing road contracts.

So what can be done? Nothing. Texas and the feds choose the border wall over roads, bridges, maintenance, etc. They pulled all of the hurricane drainage funding and sent it to the border, there is no action on City roads, County roads, State roads, FM roads, or interstate roads. The bridge work from the infrastructure bill is gone.

Will they look at 290 in the near future? No way. They are taking IH35 under the lake and rebuilding it all the way to North Austin. I think the budget for that project is something like 13.5 bn. They are finishing IH45 around downtown Houston for a cool 14bn. No money left.


All I can say is Deal with it. You all thought a border wall and cheap gas was so important that you were willing to give up all other infrastructure projects for it. Now it is what it is.

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As a TxDOT employee in the FIN division, I appreciate your excellent analysis of how the budget problems go far beyond ROW.

12thMan9 said:

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SB IV said:

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Get ready for the Cap and Stitch project downtown. Was at a luncheon and City Councilman Chito Vela was one of the speakers. He was creaming his pants over this project.

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Looks like they cut/pasted the I-45 plans for downtown Houston.

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San Antonio too for getting Becar County to vote for Project Marvel. Then immediately they took that out once the vote passed because "oh lol the feds were building that, not us."

Jason C. said:

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12thMan9 said:

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SB IV said:

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Get ready for the Cap and Stitch project downtown. Was at a luncheon and City Councilman Chito Vela was one of the speakers. He was creaming his pants over this project.

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Looks like they cut/pasted the I-45 plans for downtown Houston.

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San Antonio too for getting Becar County to vote for Project Marvel. Then immediately they took that out once the vote passed because "oh lol the feds were building that, not us."

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I can't wait to see the homeless falling onto the highway since there's no guardrail. Or for the bridge to collapse because it's 1 inch thick.

I'm fine with the explanation. At least I know someone sees the problem and the real issue is money and resources.

HTownAg98 said:

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aggie orbitalwelder said:

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I figured they would just continue that toll road through Manor to 95 east of Elgin. Then there is one traffic light in McDade that would need an overpass. I believe they are getting public input for a bypass of Giddings. Then figure out that messed up interchange in Brenham. Finally an overpass for the one light Chapel Hill.

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The 290/36 interchange in Brenham is already being done. Basically everything from the old Gattiland west of town to the interchange on the south side of the highway is being acquired. The acquisition process began in spring 2024.

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TXDOT has approved the plan to put an overpass at the red light in Chappell Hill (290 @ FM 1155).

However, the project is currently un-funded and not expected to start earlier than 2030.

US 290 improvement project - FM 1155 intersection

Pay state taxes then pay to drive on toll roads. The further you can live from high population density and the less you travel to same, the better off you are.

The Giddings paper (the hard times and bad news) had a report about a year or two ago about TXDOT reviewing options to bypass the funk (IFYKYK) and held an information session at the silos with the local community. Now, haven't heard a peep about it since.