CAMPO reports on Wirtz Dam bridge study
By Glynis Crawford Smith
The Highlander
On Wednesday the final report of the Wirtz Dam study by the Capitol Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) was released online, with tabulations of those 18 community meetings, 848 completed surveys and 812 comments.
“It was a positive, strong response,” said Burnet County Judge James Oakley, a member of the board of directors of CAMPO. “We had a first reading of the report last month and it will come back to the Transportation Policy Board on Feb. 13.
Beginning in August, the Wirtz Dam Road Community Outreach Program followed a process to gather community input on an additional Colorado River crossing below Wirtz Dam, connecting Wirtz Dam Road west of Marble Falls with Ranch to Market Road 2147. CAMPO staffers worked closely with community leaders, Burnet County, The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) presenting programs and gathering survey responses.
Pared to the three high points on a response graph, 448 respondents said a new north-south bridge would be “very beneficial,” 118 ranked it “beneficial” and 94 respondents said “not at all beneficial.”
Questions that remain are engineering challenges, cost and how the cost stacks up against other transportation projects—not questions that can be answered in the span of five months, as in the collection of public opinion data. It is certain, however, that the $75,000 allocated by CAMPO in 2015 to conduct the study provided the deepest reach into citizen opinion on the project, since the idea of a bridge was only a gleam in county commissioner's eyes in 1974. That is when it first formally appeared in the Burnet County Transportation Plan.
“The community provided great feedback about their needs and thoughts for an additional river crossing near Wirtz Dam Road," said Doise Miers, CAMPO community outreach manager. "CAMPO is grateful to the community for being so involved and taking time to be engaged in this community outreach program. The extensive feedback will be considered as the County and TxDOT decide on next steps.”
Complete details of the study are available online at www.campotexas.org/wirtzdam.
Meanwhile, CAMPO has launched a new outreach program to gather public opinion on making six-county region it serves more walk and bike friendly.
The result is planned to be a Regional Active Transportation Plan that will serve as a blueprint for a safe and easy-to-use active transportation network of trails, sidewalks, bike lanes, and streets for the region.
One of 10 open house meetings was held at the Marble Falls Lakeside Pavilion on Jan. 23 and the survey is still open online at www.http://sgiz.mobi/s3/bikewalksurvey.
