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As Hays County’s Dripping Springs Southwes Connection Study continues, residents from the area have organized to fight the county’s transportation efforts, creating the group Fight. FM150.
The study itself is intended to identify a route that will extend RM 150 from the intersection of RM 12 to US Highway 290 west of Dripping Springs, as stated on its website, improve150.com. As part of the initiative, Hays County reached out to local stakeholders and property owners to develop preliminary engineering plans for a future roadway. However, despite the county’s stated intent to minimize environmental impacts and impacts to property owners, Fight. FM150 came out against the enterprise, publishing their first newsletter on Jan. 25.
The newsletter was emailed directly to The Century News from fight. [email protected]. Additional recipients of the email, if any, were kept private.
“Our goal is to publish this newsletter every 60 days to keep you all informed as the Southwest Extension and FM15/ RR12 roundabout projects progress,” the email read. “It may include information you already know but provides a summary of our goals, prior, current and future actions.”
The attached newsletter began with a list of “team goals.”
“[Our goals are] to protect our Hill Country way of life environment and ecology from unnecessary construction of roadways across unspoiled land [and] to remove the FM150 West Extension and roundabout project at RR12 and FM150 from Hays County and Dripping Springs 2021 Master Transportation plans,” it stated.
The newsletter continued on to list actions previously taken by Fight.FM150, including individual discussions with Dripping Springs Mayor Bill Foulds, Jr. and Dripping Springs Transportation Committee Chairman Travis Crow. These were followed by a number of action items, primarily focusing on opposing incumbent Hays County Commissioner Walt Smith’s reelection campaign and providing ways for individuals to be involved with Fight.FM150.
While Fight.FM150 insists the Southwest Connection Study is unnecessary, residential and economic growth in the area suggests otherwise, according to Arin Gray, spokesperson for study.
“Some of the residents who question the need for the study are new to the area and were not involved in the previous planning efforts, which occurred over the past 10 years,” she explained. “Yet, the rapid increase in development, including the future for a fully built-out Caliterra neighborhood and other developments, are part of the reason that the county needs to plan for more capacity on roads and ensure safe, efficient ways to travel and move through Dripping Springs for years to come. It is not sustainable to keep developing homes and businesses without the corresponding development and expansion of the infrastructure network, especially in an area that has doubled in population in the last five years.”
Several previous plans and studies identified a need for additional roadway capacity south and west of Dripping Springs, beginning in 2013. These included the Hays County Transportation Plan (2013, updated in 2021), the RM 150 West Character Plan (2017) and the City of Dripping Springs Transportation Master Plan (2014, updated in 2018).
“We are planning a public meeting in March or April to share an updated route for community input,” Gray said. “We are planning an in-person meeting and will provide the same information online.”
“We have been keeping the community updated through the project website and emails,” she continued. “As we nail down a date for the next public meeting, we will share that information by email, mail, and coordinate with the media to help get the word out.”
For more information, visit improve150.com/connection.
