Texas Department of Transportation

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

With Mother Nature on their side, Citizens for Scenic Texas Highways (CSTH) will see the intersection of US 281 and Texas 71 in technicolor come spring.

Bluebonnet seeds mixed with those a variety of other native Texas wildflowers were planted in Phase II of their Gateway to the Hill Country and Highland Lakes Beautification Project on Saturday, Sept. 9.

Phase I was the trimming of Live Oak trees in the median by Bradlee Mills of Mills Services in Kingsland, who has committed his donated arborist services to the site through 2018. Phase II was the planting conducted by George Cates of Native American Seed in Junction.

Cates clocked 12 acres on the planter as he ploughed through the 56 acres of land in the clover-leaf intersection. Hopes are high for timely moisture to bring forth the spring flowers in the first season, though wildflowers will sometimes save their prize for another perfect season.

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

Travelers of Ranch to Market Road (RM) 1431 west from Marble Falls can expect two new traffic signals.

One of them, a new caution light at the intersection of Burnet County Road 120 and Burnet County Road 125/Highland Drive, the entrance to the City of Highland Haven, is under construction.

“This is a safety issue that Highland Haven has been requesting from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) for several years,” said Olan Kelley, mayor of city.

“Be sure to pass along your thanks to Burnet County Judge James Oakley, and Cathy Kratz, the Burnet Area engineer for TxDOT and Burnet County Precinct 1 Commissioner Jim Luther Jr., who have been working to improve the safety at this intersection as well as others in Burnet County,” Kelley added in a message to Highland Haven citizens.

By Phil Reynolds

The Highlander

Facing a hostile, but polite, audience that nearly filled the 500-capacity sanctuary at Kingsland’s First Baptist Church Tuesday evening, Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) officials agreed to reconsider a proposal to restripe Ranch-to-Market Road 1431 in Llano County.

The project would have made the four-lane highway into a two-lane highway with intermittent passing and turning lanes, a change TxDOT engineers said would improve the safety of the road.

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

The curvy, hilly stretch of Texas 71 between Spicewood and the Pedernales River bridge may seem serene and majestic to some, but it certainly can lay claim to being one of the most dangerous stretches of road in the Hill Country.

Since last year, at least five people have died on that leg of Texas 71, including earlier this month, when three Round Rock women died after their vehicle crashed into a charter bus carrying the Huston-Tillotson University baseball team on its way back to Austin from a game in New Mexico.

The women failed to yield the right of way to the bus as they turned left from Fall Creek Road and pulled out in front of it shortly before midnight on April 1. June Smith, 18, Isabella Torres, 17, and Taylor Mendez, 17, all of Round Rock, were killed in the crash. The bus driver, Adolphus Kimbro, was injured and taken to a local hospital.

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

Two important transportation meetings went on in Burnet County this week.

A sit-down of Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the Burnet County Commissioners Court was held in an open workshop Tuesday, March 28, at the Burnet courthouse and a Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) open house on long-range plans was held Wednesday, March 29.

Commissioners went line by line through 54 projects, only 24 of which are on the 2017 priority list for TxDOT, but all important to one or morel precincts. CAMPO representatives came to convey feedback on possible amendments to the CAMPO 2040 and 2017-2020 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP).

Commissioners workshop

As fundraising continues for the Gateway to the Hill Country Beautification Project, volunteers of Citizens for Scenic Texas Highways (CSTH) carried a report on its progress to Luci Baines Johnson this month.

The organization has dedicated the community-funded project to the 'Legacy of Lady Bird Johnson,' the former First Lady and Luci's mother. She welcomed Soc Gonzalez, Shannon Heep and Linda Baker to her Central Texas home where they shared information about the groundbreaking Dec. 27 on the two-year project to beautify the intersection that welcomes visitors to Burnet County--US 281 and Texas 71 in Marble Falls.

The site has been called the Gateway to the Hill Country and Highland Lakes Region and described as a “welcome mat” at the threshold of traffic from seasonal visitors from within Texas and from far beyond Texas borders.

BY GLYNIS CRAWFORD SMITH
THE HIGHLANDER