TXDOT construction to shrink U.S. 281 business frontage in Marble Falls

By Connie Swinney
Staff Writer

Marble Falls business owners along a stretch of U.S. 281 north could lose state right-of-way frontage including parking lot space, as the Texas Department of Transportation takes steps for highway construction projects for safety and to accommodate pedestrian traffic.

Officials said TXDOT has plans to request bids on construction by the end of 2019 with construction potentially beginning in 2020.

Property owners will be given the option to lease their respective TXDOT-owned spaces to maintain the existing parking layout; otherwise TXDOT will maintain the area as traffic right-of-way.

“There were talks about eminent domain, but that has been removed due to TXDOT's understanding of the situation better,” property owner Fermin Ortiz said. Ortiz owns the building which comprises an athletic club and restaurant in the 2300 block of U.S. 281, at the intersection of Colt Drive.

Other merchants who expressed concerns primarily are located in a stretch of roadway between the 2200 to 2300 block of the highway.

Those businesses include a physicians' facility, nutrition center, Mexican food restaurant and stone products company.

TXDOT work will include features such as improved “egress and ingress” points, which facilitate safer entrance and exit in and out of properties.

The total project on U.S. 281 is expected to extend from Lantana Drive to Nature Heights Drive and include concrete curbs and gutters as well as sidewalks along each side. The TXDOT estimated total project cost is more than $1.2 million. . . .

Find more on this story in the Friday, April 19 issue of The Highlander, the newspaper of record for the Highland Lakes. To offer a comment or news tip, email connie@highlandernews.com.