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Hays County held its second open house for the Fitzhugh Safety Study on Aug. 20 at Beerburg Events. Members of the community were invited to look at maps and proposals for the road and to provide feedback on those plans. The deadline for comments is Sept. 5.
“We actually had great attendance. I’m interested to see how many people signed in and left comments,” Hays County Commissioner Walt Smith said. “We had post-it notes and large scale maps with all of the suggestions and options that we have. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the feedback from our residents was.”
The county plans to improve Fitzhugh Road between RM 12 and the Hays County line to enhance safety, improve mobility, and accommodate the region’s growing population. The project is funded through the Hays County Transportation department.
“There is a common theme amongst both residences and businesses over the overall safety of the roadway,” Smith said. “Our residents feel very concerned about the increase in commercial traffic that is on the roadway and how they can ensure that those residents stay safe as they enter and exit the roadway. The businesses that I’ve spoken to really have that same concern because they don’t ever want to imperil any of the residents or anyone else using the roadway.”
The initial improvements to Fitzhugh would include widening the road to add shoulders, as well as adding turn lanes at some intersections. It would also include drainage improvements and signage.
George Logsdon, who lives on Fitzhugh near the intersection of Crumley Ranch Road, said he was concerned with how the changes would affect his home and land.
“Based on their scenarios, it looks like my property is going to be affected. It looks like they may damage my trees,” Logsdon said. “It looks like it’s going to be increased road noise. I’m worried about the flashing traffic lights and stuff taking up the dark skies.”
He said if his trees are taken out, it will take a lot of value away from his property and the properties of other residents. “I don’t know anybody on Fitzhugh Road that I have talked to that wants this done,” Logsdon said. “They wouldn’t mind having the road being made safer, but nobody wants it wider.”
Logsdon said he wants the winding character of the road to stay the same.
“This is a scenic country road, and there’s not much of that left anymore, and I’d like to keep what we have,” Logsdon said. “If they were worried about fatalities, they’d just have more police support out here. There’s hardly ever any police out here. All day on Saturdays there’s road rallies, everything else, high speeds, nobody stops it.”
The businesses along Fitzhugh Road have similar concerns about how the road construction will impact their properties.
“My concerns are how much taking is going to happen on Fitzhugh Road over time,” business owner Mark Nearburg said. “And how do you know how to develop your property if you don’t know what the taking is going to be?” Nearburg said he does think Fitzhugh Road needs to be fixed, and he is in favor of the county’s current plans to add turn lanes and shoulders, and in general to improve safety and the flow of traffic. However, he understands that residents may have different perspectives.
“I don’t want to upset any of the neighbors or anything because their concerns are vastly different from ours,” Nearburg said.
Bob Ayres, whose family owns Shield Ranch, said he thinks it would be positive for the neighborhood to have a safer roadway.
“I think there is a definite need for safety improvements on Fitzhugh Road and I think those can be done without a massive expansion of the roadway,” Ayres said. “It seems like, by and large, that’s what they have come up with.”
In addition to the current plans for Fitzhugh, Hays County is also evaluating potential future improvements at high-crash locations highlighted in the initial 2024 safety study. These areas include the Barton Creek crossing, the intersection of Fitzhugh Road at RM 12, and Fitzhugh Road at Trautwein Road. Conceptual designs were shared at the open house.
“I think a change at Trautwein is a really good idea, if there’s a way to have a single intersection there instead of the two nearly adjoining intersections,” Ayres said. “I’ve just seen the Barton Creek alternate route for the first time tonight. I can see the advantage of eliminating the hairpin.”
Ayres said that plan would bisect a property, which could be a concern for the owner. Yet he understands why the county would be interested in addressing that situation. Nearburg agreed.
“One of the guys here has data on the number of crashes on noncounty roads, and the amount of wrecks at Barton Creek were stunning,” Nearburg said. “Apparently 80% of crashes on Fitzhugh Road happen at the Barton Creek Crossing.”
Smith said safety has been one of his number one concerns as commissioner, and something that he’s been looking at since taking office in 2019.
“Fitzhugh stuck out as one of the areas where we really had some safety concerns, especially with all the changes that have happened on the roadway over the last 10 or 15 years,” Smith said. “Even whenever we’re looking right now at issuing Certificates of Obligation to pay for additional projects, Fitzhugh is at the top of the list because of the concerns that we’ve seen.”
Smith said that ironically, the hairpin section of Fitzhugh near the Barton Creek crossing actually falls in Travis County. Under both of the proposed scenarios, that section of roadway would essentially be bypassed.
“It would remove the vast majority of the traffic from where we know all of the wrecks are occurring,” Smith said.
Logsdon said he is concerned with the motives behind the changes.
“To some degree, I believe that this is all politically based, this whole road deal, and I believe that the reason why they’re doing it is to support the idea of bringing in a concert venue out here,” Logsdon said.
Logsdon, Nearburg and Ayres all said that they oppose the proposed concert venue. In fact, Shield Ranch is one of the property owners that is fighting against it.
“It adjoins our property and would have massive impacts not only to the enjoyment of our property, but to the conservation based programming that we do, both for wildlife and for people on the property,” Ayres said.
Ayres said he doesn’t think the current road plans would be a big game changer for the developer, and that they would still face the same challenges they have now.
“There are many concerns, but traffic specific, I think the impacts of a 5000 seat concert venue for Fitzhugh Road would just be really ill advised,” Ayres said.
Smith said this open house is just one of several public meetings that the county will hold on future changes for Fitzhugh.
“It’ll probably be more or less a two to three year process to identify and have what a final schematic might look like, and then we will move forward with trying to get funding for construction of whatever that final version will be,” Smith said.
Smith also said that the county listened to community feedback and is committed to keeping the scenic charm of Fitzhugh.
“There was a commitment made by the county that we would try to maintain the character of Fitzhugh as a two lane roadway with the exception of where we would need turn lanes at certain intersections simply for safety,” Smith said. “But other than that, we want to maintain the rural character and ensure that it’s still a two-lane roadway.”
To view the open house materials and submit feedback, community members can visit www.fitzhughsafetystudy. com. The comment deadline is Sept. 5.
