Save Dripping Springs!
June 2024
Dripping
Springs at Ranch Road 12 will repeat the 40 year Oak
Hill traffic jam unless the freeway can end WEST of town.
Freeway from Austin to beyond Dripping Springs is inevitable, it is
only a matter of when. For analysis of the current highway plan east
of here see Fact Check: US 290 from Oak Hill
to Dripping Springs.
This
page is an idea to save downtown
Dripping Springs by moving through traffic around town rather than
through town. Let “Business 290” remain small and local – no
frontage roads!
DISCLAIMER: I am just a concerned resident, not a traffic engineer. If I drew a line on your property I apologize. If this idea were to proceed, it would be planned by professionals including environmental study, public input meetings, detailed design and so on. If your idea is better, please let me know!
Getting the freeway west of town while keeping the current 1 US highway path through town requires future frontage roads. This future expansion will remove all structures within 150 feet of the current 290 since it will need to be at least 321 feet wide. Or perhaps it could go up in the air and hover over the frontage roads on T stands to fit in the current space and save buildings. Either way would be destructive and would lose the small town charm along current 290. The bright side is that historic Mercer Street (the original 290) would survive US 290 frontage roads!
Many down town areas have been saved by splitting the highway into separate local and through routes. Examples include Brenham, Taylor, La Grange and many others. Destructive widening through town can be eliminated when you offload through freeway traffic around town. Frontage roads are not needed on either path since the original business highway and its cross streets already provide local access from nearby freeway exits. Therefore the new freeway bypass can fit in less than 150 feet while supporting up to 3 lanes in each direction. The new path even gives locals more options for getting around town, further relieving traffic in town and improving business access.
Sadly, houses are already built in all possible bypass paths or will be added in the next few years. See below for other path ideas that already fail to work. Shown here could be the last remaining nearly clear path to route through traffic as of 2024. If you wait to buy this right of way, then freeway bypass will become impossible and you will be forced to frontage roads through town.
East
End Option AThis image is a detail of the east end of the highway split. There are today two relatively clear paths to an overpass that connects to RR12 south of business 290. Option A is further out and south of YMCA which appears preferable. However, the curves could be too tight and this space is already consumed by the coming hundreds of houses of Village Grove. It is not likely this could work. Therefore option A is not shown on the overall image above.
Option B is closer in around only HEB. This provides more gradual curves to the south and west. There is about 300 feet between the Courtyard hotel and the YMCA. So the 120 feet required for the freeway can fit through to the RR12 overpass. Freeway would go ~20 feet elevated over Rob Shelton and RR12 due to their close proximity but only RR12 needs ramps down to the signal. East of here could optionally have frontage roads if you wish to encourage more businesses to build. In this case the elevated section could be on T posts with frontage underneath through the narrow space.
Onion
Creek and BridgesProceeding west, staying north of Onion Creek would have been ideal with fewer bridges. But many houses are already built in that path. So freeway must now cross the creek twice, once in the above image and again in this one. This section can optionally have on/off ramps to Creek Road and/or Roger Hanks for another local access option. Perhaps one of these is needed, not both.
The west end would continue on and reconnect the highway split near Holder Lane.
Less than 150 feet right of way should support up to 3 lanes in each direction and even SUP (special use path) for hiking and biking. Imagine how beautiful this path would be when finished! Travelers would get to see more of the beauty of this town through the hills and trees and even over the creek. Truckers would no longer compete with locals in downtown. Residents would have better mobility, no longer stuck at 290 and RR12 every day.
If similar right of way is not obtained soon, I fear freeway bypass will be impossible, see below.
Please let TxDOT and your politicians know if you agree with this idea or find a better way to save Dripping Springs from its area growth and increasing traffic.
For other ideas that failed to work, and more detail on this problem, keep reading the original version of this page below.
Tim Witham <twitham@sbcglobal.net>
Above is the only working bypass I find in 2024. Below is prior options that failed and more background on this problem.
Save Dripping Springs!
April 2024
Dripping
Springs at Ranch Road 12 is the next 40 year Oak
Hill traffic jam unless the freeway can end WEST of town.
Dripping Springs is under attack by land buyers and housing developers not from here. Housing is approved on all remaining spaces that should be used to improve traffic instead. Out of control housing with continued Grade F LOS transportation is destroying life, both literally in crashes and in time wasted daily in unnecessary traffic congestion.
The only hope to save Dripping Springs is to get transportation improvements ahead of more housing.
The proposed US 290 W expansion will stop all freeway traffic in downtown, making it the next Oak Hill but worse. US 290/RR12 is already Grade F LOS since it is the only intersection of the only through streets. The only way to save Dripping Springs is to offload through traffic onto working alternate through paths that do not exist. If the freeway itself cannot be moved out of town, then TxDOT in the next phase will be forced to expand the highway to ~321 feet through downtown, removing all structures within 150 feet of the current highway as is happening east of town.
I fear there are no laws or politicians that can stop developers and the destructive future they are causing. Nevertheless, I have asked Mayor, City Council, County Commissioner, Representative and Senator to reserve space for transportation better than Grade F before allowing more housing in the few remaining paths.
Common
Sense Bypass Options?Anyone can draw a line on a map, but no one did. No one planned any way to route through traffic around downtown. Instead:
All housing is approved and must connect to only US 290 or RR12.
No street is allowed to connect through to any other street.
All traffic must go through US 290/RR12.
At first glance, there appears to exist today two relatively clear paths for a US 290 freeway bypass around Dripping Springs to fix traffic safety and save downtown. Unfortunately, these last remaining paths will be covered with thousands of houses instead. This will force future freeway expansion through downtown, removing every structure within 150 feet of the current highway.
The most direct and best option is south near the water tower and west to RR 12 about 3800 feet south of current 290/12. The north option would cross RR12 near Ranch Park. Both would proceed West and connect back to US 290 on the west side of town past McGregor Ln, taking the clearest path possible to minimize eminent domain and property destruction. The south option would cost < 400 feet by 6 miles or < 300 acres.
Since there would be interchanges at the east and west ends and at RR12 and optionally Roger Hanks, frontage roads would be optional. Local access could instead be via existing local streets accessed from the original 290 as today. This would make the freeway only bypass as small as 120 feet wide, even with up to 3 lanes in each direction. 150 feet would allow shared use paths.
Bypass
ConflictsThe south option conflicts with at least Village Grove and Carter Ranch developments. The north option conflicts with at least Double L Ranch and Wildridge developments.
In addition to housing conflicts, the north options conflict with several properties already in place and environmental conservation easements that prohibit development, even of needed roads. North is ruled out. No one can ever have any alternate route around on the north side.
The south shortcut/middle option conflicts with the flood plain. It is ruled out. The 6 mile south option could be pushed north of the river. But then it conflicts with Arrowhead and Bunker Ranch. South options are ruled out.
It is impossible to bypass town north or south. Freeway must go directly through downtown forever, destroying all businesses or keeping traffic worse than Grade F LOS.
Grade
F Level of Service foreverA 2021 traffic study predicts 50,400 daily trips on US 290 in downtown by 2040. This is worsening grade F level of service even after all recommended improvements are implemented. It is due to forcing all traffic through 1 intersection with no alternates.
City
PlanHere’s the city plan. Dotted lines don’t exist. Notice only 1 continuous East/West through street and 1 North/South with 1 resulting intersection that is not an appropriately large interchange. Zero options for a truck to go around town. Zero options for a resident to avoid parking at US 290 / RR12.
Do the people of Dripping Springs really want it to be housing only with grade F transportation? You want only 1 intersection and no alternate options to get around? You want only 2 streets for all businesses? You want those businesses removed for highway widening?
If a reasonable bypass could be placed first, then businesses and even housing could build around it naturally and need no destructive widening in the future.
You might want to support any new highway or street projects and oppose housing that builds in those paths.
Please let TxDOT and your politicians know if you find a way to save Dripping Springs from its housing and traffic.
