Hays County Commissioner Mark Jones (R-Precinct 2) | hayscountytx.com/commissioners-court/commissioner-precinct-2/
Hays County Commissioner Mark Jones (R-Precinct 2) | hayscountytx.com/commissioners-court/commissioner-precinct-2/
Hays County will spend about $2 million on a transportation study to improve safety on a stretch of Texas 21 and accommodate new growth expected in the region, according to minutes from a recent county court meeting.
On Jan. 21, Hays County Commissioners voted to spend the money to look into safety along a stretch of the highway in the county where more than three dozen traffic fatalities have happened in two years, according to the meeting's minutes and coverage of the meeting.
The study, which was unanimously approved during the commission court, will target a 17-mile stretch of Texas 21 between Texas 80 in San Marcos and U.S. 183 in eastern Hays County, according to coverage of the county court meeting in the Jan. 23 edition of Austin American-Statesman.
| FreeImages - Stacy Conaway
The newspaper cited Texas Department of Transportation data that had been provided by the county. At least 37 fatalities were reported on the target stretch of Texas 21 between 2016 and 2018, the newspaper reported.
Those fatalities included a Lehman High School student killed in a hit-and-run crash the day after Christmas in 2016.
"It's not just fatalities," Commissioner Mark Jones was quoted in the newspaper's story. "We've also had a lot of injuries on SH 21, and there can be delays, congestion and flooding problems at certain choke points and intersections."
The county's study will be done by HDR Engineering and will look at traffic and population projections, environmental constraints, business and school bus patterns, and existing buildings and historic sites, according to the newspaper's report.
"The report will offer a list of design recommendations, including new travel lanes and improvements to intersections, sidewalks and shoulders," the newspaper report said. "It is expected to be completed in early 2021."
The study will help the county decide "where to preserve right-of-way along the road for future improvements" with a goal of developing a long-range plan for highway upgrades in phases, the newspaper's report said.
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