CTRMA board seeks payback from TxDOT

The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority Board of Directors took two votes on Wednesday that advanced a pair of separate high-dollar highway projects. Each authorized Executive Director Mike Heiligenstein to negotiate agreements with the Texas Department of Transportation that will see that agency reimburse the mobility authority for work done on its behalf. The first project, worth $41 million, involves the CTRMA building a flyover that will connect eastbound Manor Expressway to southbound State Highway 130. The state will ultimately take control of that ramp and cover its maintenance costs. As part of that project, the CTRMA will also build its own direct connectors that will feed traffic from both directions on SH 130 to westbound Manor Expressway. The board also directed Heiligenstein to seek reimbursement from TxDOT to the tune of $120 million for adding one extra non-tolled lane in each direction along bottlenecked parts of U.S. Highway 183 between Mopac Boulevard and RM 620. Part of the 183 North Mobility Project, that work will also add two new express lanes along that 13-mile stretch as well as bicycle and pedestrian facilities. Construction on the Manor Expressway flyovers is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2018 and wrap up by the end of 2020, while work on the 183 North Mobility Project is expected start in late 2018 and finish by the spring of 2022.