la Frontera In the News

Round Rock Leader

December 21, 2000

$3.2 billion turnpike project launched in Round Rock

by Bill Frisbie, Leader Staff

With U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm and Lt. Gov. Rick Perry leading a host of state and area public officials, the Texas Turnpike Authority’s (TTA) first construction project was unearthed in Round Rock Monday as ground was broken on the three-mile frontage road segment of Texas 45.
The ceremony, at the La Frontera commercial hub, represented the first phase of the $3.2 billion Central Texas Turnpike Project, a 122-mile system that will stretch from Georgetown to Seguin with links in Williamson and Travis counties.

“We’re starting a project today that should have been started 10 years ago,” Gramm said. “Nothing happening in Central Texas is more important than what is happening today. This project will result in more jobs, more opportunities, safer roads and happier people — and that’s the good end of all governmental action.”

The frontage roads, expected to be completed in one year, are seen as a precursor to Texas 45 that will eventually connect U.S. Highway 183 in Austin with the proposed Texas 130 east of Round Rock. Texas 45 is slated as a 16-mile, four-lane roadway that will serve as Central Texas’ major east-west corridor. The $500 million thoroughfare has a 2006 targeted completion date.

“This is not just about getting from point A to point B a little quicker,” said Perry, “and it’s not just about moving products from the warehouse to the plant on time. It’s about moving Texans safely.”

Perry stopped just short of predicting that a Bush administration would guarantee more federal dollars for Texas transportation projects.

“Texas has truly gotten the short end of the stick relative to infrastructure dollars for transportation,” Perry said, “but we are on the cusp of better days of building highways more expeditiously and effectively.”

Although Texas 45 is intended to ease traffic congestion on area roadways, transportation officials said the project will only allow the state to keep pace with the explosive growth in Williamson and Travis counties.

“Traffic will never be better than it was when we drove to this ceremony today,” said TTA Chairman Pete Winstead, “but with the Central Texas Turnpike, we can keep it from getting worse.”

The TTA was created by the Texas Legislature in 1997 as a division of the Texas Department of Transportation. The Central Texas Turnpike Project is the area’s first toll road development. Often referred to as the “Big Four,” other projects within the system include Texas 130 between Georgetown and Seguin, the Loop 1 (MoPac) extension between Parmer Lane and Interstate Highway 35, and U.S. 183A in southwest Williamson County.