More truck routes needed, transportation survey shows
About 42 percent or 288 respondents to the survey said developing alternate routes for commercial traffic (particularly trucks) should be the county’s most important transportation objective.
Most of the county’s truck traffic rolls along roads east of U.S. 281, including rural routes 243, 963, 1174, 1431, 1869 and 2147, according to a Texas Department of Transportation map.
Also according to the survey, the second, third and fourth transportation goals are “improving roadway safety,” “maintenance on existing roads” and “building a new bridge across the Colorado River.”
During the past several weeks, the survey was online at the Burnet County Web site and distributed to several geographic points, with the largest number of responses coming from residents of Burnet and Marble Falls.
TxDOT planner Elizabeth Prestwood said the the Burnet County Comprehensive Transportation Plan Group created and distributed the survey and has collected 678 responses to date with at least 93 more responses waiting to be interpreted.
“They’re doing a wonderful job,” Prestwood told more than 20 officials at a Wednesday meeting to review the data. “The response rate is really impressive.”
The Burnet County Commissioners Court and other officials discussed the survey with representatives from the Capital Area Council of Governments, the TxDOT and the Texas Transportation Institute during the workshop at the Bertram Church of Christ Fellowship Hall.
No action was taken during the meeting, which included County Judge Donna Klaeger, the group’s steering committee chairwoman; Marble Falls City Councilman Brian Shirley, chairman of the technical advisory committee; and County Subdivision Coordinator George Russell, chairman of the citizens awareness committee.
Although generally pleased with the transportation survey results to date, more than 72 percent of responses came from participants who do not have children who attend school within the county.
“We need families to participate,” Klaeger said.
The Citizens Awareness Committee wants to send more surveys to PTOs at schools and other family groups for more input, Russell said.
The Burnet Consolidated Independent School District and the Marble Falls Independent School District rank among the largest employer in the county, Prestwood said, adding both districts combined generate more than 3,400 car passengers each school day.
“Schools have a huge impact on traffic,” Prestwood said.
The TxDOT planner pointed out two other major traffic magnets are businesses based in Marble Falls: the Walmart Supercenter, which attracts up to 6,000 customers daily; and the Blue Bonnet Cafe, which can draw between 800 and 2,000 customers each day.
“That is amazing,” Prestwood said.
County Environmental Services and Floodplain Director Herb Darling said the “northeast quadrant” of the county may experience rising levels of traffic during upcoming years because of the addition of 25,000 soldiers nearby at Fort Hood.
“That portion of the county will grow,” Darling said. “It will affect us. It already has.”
TTI research associate Tina Geiselbrecht noted total school district enrollment in the county increased more than 24 percent over 10 years, from 5,875 in 1996 to 7,306 in 2006.
While median household income has risen 77 percent in the county, the population has grown “twice as fast as the rest of the state” during the past 20 years, and it may rise from more than 40,000 today to more than 104,000 by 2040, Geiselbrecht added.
“I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know,” she quipped.
According to the Texas Workforce Commission, the county’s current unemployment rate is about 3.54 percent and has declined steadily since 2001, Geiselbrecht pointed out.
“And, we have had more employees coming into Burnet County than we have ever had,” Klaeger said.
The transportation group plans to reconvene 8:30 a.m. Jan. 21 in Highland Haven, officials said.
Final adoption of the transportation plan is scheduled for February 2010, officials said.
To take the Burnet County transportation public opinion questionnaire or find out more, visit www.burnetcountytexas.org.
raymond@thepcayune.com