(Seguin) — More people and businesses are moving into the area, and with that growth, there’s now a push to create better ways for people to travel between the Seguin and New Braunfels areas. The SH 130 Concession Company, which manages the southernmost leg of State Highway 130, is proposing to build an east-west connector that would create direct tie-in between Interstate 35 in New Braunfels and SH 130 somewhere near Seguin.
Jeff Billows, chief operating officer for the SH 130 Concession Company, speaks at podium during recent meeting of the Seguin City Council.
Jeff Billows, chief operating officer for the SH 130 Concession Company, recently discussed the idea with the Seguin City Council. Billows says this is all tied to the growth that’s occurring locally. He says the tollway is already experiencing more traffic due to that growth. There are more vehicles utilizing that stretch of the toll-road, but Billows says it can handle much more.
“After the pandemic cleared, we suddenly saw traffic jump. So pandemic was part of it, but it’s also just sort of the accumulated growth in the area. There are significant numbers, which I won’t bore you with all of them, but I think there are two things to take away. It’s up, give or take, 50-percent in the last five years. So massive, massive growth from a pretty small base, but still pretty large. It’s (also) a facility which is currently congestion free. We have an incident rate which is a fraction of most rural highways that are similar from a capacity standpoint. Even with this growth, we don’t think we have a congestion issue where travel would slow to 65 (MPH) or less until (the year) 2050 or so. The point of that is – it’s wide-open space, (and) congestion-free travel,” said Billows.
Billows says the current growth in Seguin and across other parts of Guadalupe, Comal and Caldwell counties shows there’s a need to address the existing traffic issues, and the connector road would be one way to do that.
“Guadalupe County is growing 30-ish percent in the last decade. There’s 15,000 or so dwelling units planned and in the pipeline in Seguin alone. That’s replicated other cities in the area. The expectation is that this sort of rate will continue if you extrapolate it out to 2050, it will be about a 70-percent growth rate, which would put these two counties at 750,000 residents. So just some numbers to probably bring to life, what you’ve seen every day in your seats — all that extra traffic results in congestion time. Over these periods of time, there’s an 11 or so percent increase in commute times. We put a survey, in the field, on Guadalupe and Comal County residents, and 85-percent of them indicated that traffic has become worse, over the last five years,” said Billows.
The connector road is all about improving the transportation flow throughout this area, but it’s expected to offer other benefits to communities, like Seguin, which will help it promote and manage the growth in the area. The new road would need legislative support, during the current legislative session underway in Austin. Billows says that work is being done and they are hoping to get to a point where they will be allowed to work with the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) to move the project forward.
“There’s been a proposal under discussion to help to alleviate some of that, and that’s the proposal we’re just putting forth for further consideration, and ultimately, potentially legislation in this session, which would give TXDOT the right to enter into negotiations with the SH130 Concession Company. The proposition would be a high speed, non-toll connector between (IH) 35 and SH 130. The connection points are subject to, you know, details — generally speaking, (it would be) from around (Highway) 46 where it connects to I-35 to FM 20, at where it connects to SH130. Again, that is one potential route. It’s a route that minimizes the amount of right-of-way that has to be taken, because – one, that’s the most disruptive thing to residents of the area. And two, is that we don’t have eminent domain authority, so there’s no condition under which we would be taking land. It would have to be a collaborative process with the landowners, and as such, the route could vary,” said Billows.
It’s a fair question to ask that if the project is so valuable to the people in this area, why didn’t TXDOT pursue this on its own. Billows says the company is in a position to better handle this project. It can move at a faster pace, which means that you can better control the costs associated with the project. It also potentially brings relief faster to motorists who have found it more difficult to travel across the area.
“The value we would bring to the table is that, as a private company, we’re not subject to the funding requirements that TXDOT is subject to. So, we could theoretically start this project off and be done in five years, whereas with TXDOT, it may not really be a priority, and you’re probably looking at 20 years and it’s costs are escalating,” said Billows. “To be fully transparent, the negotiation with TXDOT would likely be — we would fund this effort upfront, we would design it, we would build it, we would work with the locals and the compensation would be an extension of term of our current concession, which is 40 years right now. The reason there’s legislation involved is this current statute limits duration at 52 years, so it would be an extension beyond that. The details would be worked out in a transparent process with TXDOT, but that’s probably the broad strokes.”
Billows says the details are a long way from being worked out, but he says the concept for the roadway is sound, and it’s something that’s greatly needed.
“I think this brings a needed connector, and obviously (some) congestion relief. There is also in our survey improved response times for first responders, and there’s an alternative to I-10, which is currently having its own issues there. The legislation has been discussed for a while. I think it’s a priority for the Seguin (Area) Chamber of Commerce. We’re also getting positive response from other entities,” said Billows.
The concept calls for the New Braunfels connection to occur somewhere near State Highway 46. The council raised questions about whether or not that could be done given the current congested state in that area. Billows says TXDOT already has some plans for that area, that they might be able to tie into, but that’s not the only option for the connection to New Braunfels.
“The range that seems viable is from the 46 interchange, where that’s got a planned interchange. So, we would probably extend from that and is one possibility. There’s also a possibility at (FM) 1101, where there’s a developer looking at a connection to I-35,” said Billows.
Billows stressed again that this is a roadway that is needed, and while it will be a connector to SH 130, it will not be a tollway.
“It would be an untolled facility, and that’s why there is a need for a different funding mechanism and for legislation. So yeah, it will be untolled, probably 65 (MPH), direct access, probably elevated, with local access at grade,” said Billows.
There’s been some skepticism expressed by some local officials, but that’s not been the case at the city of Seguin. Many officials in Seguin have expressed their support for the roadway, and they think it will help with traffic flow in the area, but they also believe that it will help to spur economic growth to the area.
Billows presentation to the city council, earlier this month, was an information-only item, and no action was taken by the council. The ball now really is in the hands of legislature. It will take legislative support in order for the Concession Company to be able to work with TXDOT on the project.
