FM 973's Next Public Meeting Is Tonight in Taylor: the US 79 Intersection, Two Days After the Manor Session
TxDOT's schedule lists an in-person informational meeting Thursday in Williamson County on the FM 973 at US 79 intersection — the north end of a Manor-to-Taylor corridor that CAMPO and TxDOT say carries high crash rates and fast growth.
TAYLOR — The FM 973 corridor gets its second public meeting in three days on Thursday, when the Texas Department of Transportation holds an in-person informational meeting in Williamson County on the FM 973 at US 79 intersection, according to TxDOT's hearings and meetings schedule. The session follows Tuesday's hybrid public meeting on the southern stretch of the same road — FM 973 from US 290 in Manor to Samsung Highway — which offered both an in-person session and a virtual option.
The corridor is one of the fastest-changing drives on Austin's northeast edge. The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization and TxDOT are working together to identify, evaluate and recommend improvements for FM 973 from US 290 in Manor to US 79 in Taylor, according to CAMPO's corridor study fact sheet. FM 973 serves as a critical arterial route between Travis County and Williamson County and connects the growing cities of Manor and Taylor, and the study exists to identify safety and mobility enhancements as the region and the corridor continue to see rapid growth in residential, commercial and industrial development.
Safety is the stated driver. TxDOT and CAMPO officials have met with residents to discuss proposed safety improvements for FM 973 between Manor and Taylor because of high crash rates and projected traffic growth along the highway, KXAN reported; Thursday's follow-up concerns the Highway 79 intersection specifically and is scheduled at the Dickey-Givens Community Center in Taylor, according to the same reporting.
Nothing about the road changes on Thursday. CAMPO's fact sheet describes the sequence plainly: the agencies will use public input and technical evaluations to develop proposed improvements, and advancing them is a multi-year process that will require additional funding, with later phases that may include detailed design, right-of-way acquisition and utility coordination. For drivers who use FM 973 between Manor and Taylor, Thursday's meeting is the corridor's remaining scheduled chance this week to put a concern — a crash-prone intersection, a missing turn lane, a school-route conflict — into the study record in person.
