Possible flyover drives concern in Old Town

Possible flyover drives concern in Old Town

Written by Christi Covington Sunday, 07 October 2007

Susie Specht was cutting the hair of one of her clients, an engineer at the Texas Department of Transportation, when he mentioned her salon and home were in the direct path of a possible flyover from Hwy. 79 that would link to RM 620.

After TxDOT announced a corridor study for RM 620, Specht and other residents who live in Old Town Round Rock around the adjoining Chisholm Trail also became concerned for the historic preservation of their neighborhood, which has buildings dating to the early 1800s. Rumors circulated that the city’s namesake, the round rock in Brushy Creek, could be removed or relocated.

“I am very scared,” Specht said. “This is all I have.”

While it is true that some landowners might have to surrender their property for a flyover from Hwy. 79 to RM 620, the area’s history must be preserved by federal and state law, TxDOT spokesperson Marcus Cooper said.

“We cannot build within a certain area that will impact historical sites,” he said. “We would not take out the round rock.”

Path to improvement or destruction

City of Round Rock’s Public Works Director Tom Word remembers looking at the need for the flyover, a bridge that would arch over IH 35, since the 1970s, when he was employed at TxDOT. He said the road has a pattern of traffic they have long observed and has caused complaints. The flyover is a linkage that makes sense to him.

“You can just observe it by looking at a map. From 79, it is a really short line to the 620 roadway if you could just connect it. We think we could eliminate a certain amount of traffic,” he said.

A map provided by TxDOT at a May 15 open house at Round Rock High School shows two route options that will be considered in the ongoing study anticipated for completion next year.

One includes improvements to RM 620 from Toll 45 to IH 35 with bridges at major crossings such as the Georgetown Railroad. The other would also bring improvements to part of the existing route, except the section between Deep Wood Drive and IH 35, with a new connection from RM 620 to Hwy. 79 over IH 35.

Although traffic on RM 620 has decreased by 30 percent since the toll roads opened, Word still describes it as one of the city’s most congested roadways.

Rep. Mike Krusee said at a neighborhood association meeting Sept. 18 that rather than pushing more traffic into the narrow corridor of Main Avenue at downtown Round Rock, which the first option would do, the second alternative explores directing the traffic to the wider Hwy. 79 corridor.

A few years ago, the city conducted its own study for the flyover and road extension to Deep Wood Drive, but found they could not afford the $70 to $80 million it would take. Around the same time, the county explored improving RM 620 from IH 35 to Deep Wood Drive and then gave the results to TxDOT, which is responsible for the state-owned road.

Word said TxDOT decided to then join the projects into a cohesive whole, which resulted in the public hearing this spring for initial feedback from stakeholders.

Other voices

Specht, who owns Miss Susie’s Salon, Inc. at the corner of Galloping and Sam Bass roads built her store 18 years ago with living space on top. That is where she planned to stay the rest of her life.

It was not that she did not know this could ever happen. One of her friends, Jim Nuse, who is also the city manager of Round Rock, had told her more than a decade ago that a flyover might eventually come. However, she did not think it would affect her directly.

“I can not even imagine. I thought I was very safe,” she said. “There are two historic buildings behind me owned by Jim Boles [owner of Summit Commercial and Industrial Properties Inc.]. I did not think they would come too close.”

Now she is not too sure.

Attorney Brenda Rhea runs her law office out of the old St. Charles Hotel on Chisholm Trail. She bought the historic home because of her love for antiques and history. At Christmas, she hosts parties that are sometimes open to the public.

After reading about the flyover in a newspaper article in July, she led a meeting with Susie Specht and other neighbors

“Who can stop it?” she said. “The public? Maybe. They can weigh heavily on what TxDOT does. We are looking at all possibilities.”

In the end, Specht said if the study reveals this is really the best way to alleviate traffic then she will understand.

“This town has been very good to me. I don’t forget that,” she said. “I just ask them not to forget me.”

However, she is also still concerned for many of her neighbors who have land that may not have much value, but whose families have lived there for generations as some of Round Rock’s early Hispanic settlers.

“We are kind of the red-headed stepchild over here. They do not even fix our roads. Many of the people over here are poor or lower income,” Specht said.

Next steps

Cooper said it is too soon to worry yet. TxDOT often conducts these type of feasibility studies. Sometimes they manifest into projects and sometimes they do not. It will largely depend on the environmental, historical and economic impact, which is not yet determined, he said.

From his experience with the state department, Round Rock Transportation Director Tom Martin expects TxDOT will take as much initiative in preserving the community’s history as the city would.

“They study it more in-depth than we do,” he said. “They will look for caves, endangered species. The state has to look at historical impact. That is why you see funny twists and turns in roads. They are avoiding things like that. They are not going to be like bulls in a china cabinet.”

Although not yet scheduled, another open house will take place sometime this fall with study results expected sometime next summer.

“It is just waiting now,” Specht said.

Before building

The Texas Department of Transportation uses the national regulations as the standard for considering projects at or near historical sites

Criteria of adverse effect

An adverse effect is found when an undertaking may alter, directly or indirectly, any characteristic of a historic property that qualifies the property for inclusion in the National Register in a manner that would diminish the integrity of the property’s location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling or association.

Examples

• Physical destruction of or damage to all or part of the property
• Removal of the property from its historic location
• Change of the character of the property’s use or of physical features within the property’s setting that contribute to its historic significance
• Introduction of visual, atmospheric or audible elements that diminish the integrity of the property’s significant historic features

Source: The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

Within the last three years, the City of Round Rock conducted its own study on the possibility of building an extension from Hwy. 79 to RM 620 at Deep Wood Drive. The city said historical locations would be protected. City Manager Jim Nuse said some private land acquisition would be necessary. The city did not move foward with the project because of costs estimated at $70 to $80 million.

Source: City of Round Rock