Travis County voters to consider bond package aimed at road, park improvements

Early voting in the Travis County bond election begins on Monday, Oct. 23, and runs through Nov. 3. Election day is Nov. 7.

The Travis County Commissioners Court unanimously approved adding the bond to the November election on Aug. 15. The package includes two propositions that direct more than $500 million to roads and parks. The projects were selected based on a report from the 2023 Travis County Citizens Bond Advisory Committee.

The CBAC worked with county staff to develop a list of preliminary projects that were then presented at four public meetings held in April and May. After receiving public comment, the CBAC submitted its recommendations to the Commissioners Court.

If approved, Proposition A would issue $233,060,000 of road bonds that would pay for safety projects, acquiring land for right of way, road drainage, bike lanes, sidewalks, shared use paths, and replacement and improvement of roads, bridges and culverts.

If approved, Proposition B would issue $276,440,000 of bonds for projects to improve county parks, including the acquisition of land for new parks and conservation easements, as well as the construction of new recreational facilities.

The road capacity projects include Blake Manor Road from Taylor Lane to Burleson Manor Road ($16.9 million); Texas Department of Transportation right of way ($25 million); Rowe Lane from State Highway 130 to Hodde Lane ($31 million); Cameron Road east of SH 130 from Pecan Street to Fuchs Grove Road ($38 million); Arterial A construction ($33 million); Bee Creek Road from Lakehurst Road to Highland Boulevard ($16 million); South Pleasant Valley Road from Austin to SH 45 ($29.9 million); and Pyramid Drive and O’Reilly Drive substandard roads ($15 million).

Active transportation projects will include an $11 million Howard Lane shared use path and active transportation safety projects, including the Patterson Road sidewalk ($15 million).

In terms of parks, the bond will direct $201 million to strategic parkland acquisition and conservation. Other projects include the Onion Creek Greenway ($15 million); the Gilleland Creek Greenway ($30 million); Southeast Metro Park synthetic field improvements ($15 million); Arkansas Bend Park Community Building ($5 million); and the Bee Creek Sports Complex ($8 million).

The anticipated tax bill impact resulting from the passage of the bond propositions is $12 per year, or just over $1.01 per month, for a homeowner with a taxable property value of $100,000. That figure goes up to $46 per year (or $3.82 per month) for a home with a median property value of $379,200 and $57 per year ($4.78 per month) for those with an average taxable property value of $475,298.

Travis County Judge Andy Brown told the Austin Monitor, “The county and the city are growing extremely fast, and these bonds are to do two big things. One is to keep up with the transportation needs of the county, adding both a lot of safety aspects to roads, adding sidewalks, making roads safer, (improving) substandard roads to try and keep up with the growth of the county.”

He continued, “And then on the parkland side and the green space acquisition – they’re not making new land in Travis County, and there is a limited amount of land that we can use for preserving our water quality and air quality and also for parks. This is a bold step to make sure we are doing everything we can to protect our green space, keep every square inch of Travis County from being developed (and) make sure we still have open spaces and places for our kids to play in parks.”

The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.