I don't get the TX 45 toll road/loop

[Texas97]

www.commonwealthaustin.com/PDF/urbanpdfs/Tolls.web.pdf

So it is a loop but it is broken in several places.

In the northeast it goes west from TX130 to I-35 to 620/183 intersection. And then it deadends there.

And then there is another leg in the southeast near Creedmoor going west from Tx130/183 to I-33. And it ends there.

And then there is a gap west of I-35 and then it starts up again and goes west to Mopac. And then the toll road ends at Mopac.

I live off 45 in SW Austin so I know where this is. 45 (not toll though) continues west past Mopac all the way to FM 1826 and ends there. Is there a plan to have TX45 go west from Mopac all the way to I-35? I don't get why it ends about halfway to I35?

 

[mishatx]

it's supposed to loop (counting 620 and 130 as part of it)
one day, eventually, when the money's there and the endangered birds are dead.

 

[chitwood]

It's not the birds so much as the aquifer. Given the water issues we will have over the next 20 years, I'm more worried about the aquifer than completing the loop.

 

[Orange&White]

Using adequate detention/retention/ water quality ponds and drainage infrastructure in the design of the roads will make the impact negligible.

However, that costs money in addition to the road itself.

I really like how TxDOT has started designing the roads where they are elevated a few feet over parts of the route and using the area underneath the pavement as runoff ponds. It costs more for the build, but less for the ROW acquisition and allows more water to flow back into the ground. Plus, you don't have a lot of those huge concrete ponds every few miles on the sides of the roads. You can see what I am talking about on 45/620 just east of 183.

The concern for the aquifer is not so much a result of the road itself, rather the development occurs around the new road that creates more demand for the water in the aquifer.

 

[chitwood]

Thanks, O&W, I'll be the first to admit I don't know all the science re: runoff and the aquifer. I appreciate the information.