Nature Heights extension well underway
Construction is well underway on the Nature Heights Extension Project in Marble Falls. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
A new connection between U.S. 281 and Mormon Mill Road in Marble Falls is under construction and could be finished by winter. The Nature Heights Extension Project is expected to help alleviate some of the city’s traffic congestion.
According to the Marble Falls Project Portal, the project should be finished by late 2026 or early 2027. Work began in February, but the extension has been on the Marble Falls radar for years.
“That plan for (Nature Heights) has been on our thoroughfare plan for well over 10 years,” Mayor John Packer told DailyTrib when the project entered its bidding phase in 2025. “It’s just taken time to make it happen.
Marble Falls City Council approved a $5 million construction bid from Packsaddle Management in December 2025.
The scope of the project includes extending Nature Heights Drive by 3,600 feet, cutting through undeveloped land up a steep hill that separates the commercial/industrial district of northern Marble Falls along U.S. 281 from the neighborhoods and residential space along Mormon Mill Road.
For reference, Nature Heights Drive connects to U.S. 281 across the highway from Walmart, right beside Layne’s Chicken Fingers at 2711 N. U.S. 281.
The work also includes the addition of a roundabout intersection at the future convergence of Nature Heights Drive, Mormon Mill Road, and Park Ridge Drive.
A large, beloved tree along Nature Heights Drive will remain undisturbed during construction.
“The city doesn’t have a lot of connections between Mormon Mill and (U.S.) 281,” Marble Falls City Engineer Jeff Prato told DailyTrib when the project first went out for bid. “We’re hoping that, by constructing this road, we can alleviate traffic elsewhere.”
Beyond the extension project, the city is also working on upgrading the low water crossing on Nature Heights Drive.
According to Prato, Marble Falls is in the process of acquiring drainage easements before the low water crossing work can begin.
It would have made MORE sense to expand east from Research Parkway to Morman Mill Rd/CR-340. Sounds like a waste of taxpayer dollars to expand with the currently proposed Nature Heights Project. No REAL traffic relief on US-281 to cross the Colorado River.