Travis County's 30-Year Road Plan Is Open for Comment: Lago Vista's Open House Is Tonight, Nov. 12
Amendment #1 to the Transportation Blueprint — the first change since 2019 — comes to the Lago Vista Library Thursday evening. The Commissioners Court hears it Dec. 15, comments close Nov. 20, and no record yet says what the changes cost.
LAGO VISTA — Travis County is rewriting a piece of its 30-year road plan, and northwest Travis County gets its say in person on Thursday night. The county's Transportation Blueprint Amendment #1 — the plan's first change since 2019 — is the subject of an open house at the Lago Vista Library, 5803 Thunderbird, Suite 40, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 12, the Lago Vista Watchdog reported from the county's records.
The Blueprint is the county's long-range plan for roads, transit, walking and biking in the unincorporated area — land outside any city's limits. It is not a budget: projects in it still need planning, funding, design and right-of-way before anyone builds them. Amendment #1 would update the roadway network and maps, create a formal process and application form for future amendments, and make regular amendments to named roads including Elroy Road, Ross Road and South Pleasant Valley Road; the one amendment tied to evacuation revises Route F, the Steiner Ranch road, to a gated evacuation route. No record the Watchdog found states what the changes cost, and the county has not voted on any of it.
The comment window is short. The county set five in-person open houses from Oct. 26 to Nov. 17 and a virtual open house from Oct. 19 to Nov. 20; comments close Nov. 20 by voicemail at 512-854-7654, by email to tctranplan@traviscountytx.gov, or by mail to Travis County TNR Long Range Planning, P.O. Box 1748, Austin, TX 78767. Staff will review comments Nov. 23 to 30, brief the Commissioners Court from Nov. 30 to Dec. 8, and present Amendment #1 on Dec. 15 — dates the county says could change.
One local ask sits outside the county's power, and the record shows why. Lago Vista Council Member Jess Hall asked the county to plan for a second entrance at Lakeside at Tessera, the Lake Travis neighborhood off FM 1431, citing the area's limited connections to the highway and emergency evacuation. But the Blueprint covers only land outside city limits, and Lago Vista annexed the Tessera property in 2009. The city's own 2012 development agreement with Tessera's developers sets the trigger instead: a second entrance is required only once daily trips reach 3,480, measured south of the traffic circle.
The stakes are long-term. The 2019 Blueprint forecast $1.934 billion in funding through 2045 — $1.568 billion of it for roads — and projects the forecast cannot pay for stay in the plan so the county can preserve right-of-way. Thursday night's open house is the Lago Vista stop on the only comment round before the Dec. 15 hearing.
