Hays County Bypass

“Hays County seeking money for new bypass”

 – Austin American Statesman (B2), 9-12-13

 

2.      Category: Consumer/Financial

3.      Level: Local

4.      Article is concerning a potential policy that is being considered to help a problem that individuals face

5.      This article is important to both individuals and families because of the traffic congestion caused along the i35 highway primarily in the City of San Marcos. Additionally, this affects the citizens of San Marcos because the money to create this bypass would come from a portion of their property taxes.

6.      Having only lived in this area for two years, it is amazing to me all of the changes and growth that has taken place in San Marcos in such a short amount of time, let alone in the past decade! Over the summer, the U.S. Census Bureau had named San Marcos the fastest growing city in the United States, and I believe it. This entire area is booming with population and could definitely use a few more roads. The potential new county road to be named FM 110 would cover about 29 miles bypassing all of San Marcos. This would help alleviate some of the congestion caused by people traveling from Austin to San Antonio who don’t want to pay for the new toll road or from travelers simply just trying to get from one side of San Marcos to the other a little more quickly. On the downside though, this would be a 6 year project coasting about $60 million dollars. Let’s be honest, all of the road construction that San Marcos is already under (not to mention the construction about to take place on Aquarena Springs) is just plain annoying. It is the big picture that we all need to be looking at, though. If we were to ignore the fact that San Marcos is continuously growing by the minute and that traffic is only going to get worse, than we could end up with a situation similar to the one in Austin. Rush hour would be a nightmare and it would take an hour just to get across town. With that being said, I think I’ve made my view on this exponentially clear- I’m all for it! Bring on the bypass, Hays County!