Regardless of where it’s built, SH 130 is expected to have a 349-foot-wide right of way for those segments without frontage roads, 529 feet for those with frontage. Frontage roads are only planned by TTA for segments where they’re necessary to restore access to land that would otherwise get severed by the highway, but cities like Austin may decide they’d rather have them to allow for more, or perhaps even better, roadside development, as well as to more easily provide pedestrian and bicycle facilities.
That right of way would accommodate either two or three traffic lanes in each direction. The median between them would be a generous 103 feet wide, which is wide enough for additional lanes in the future, or for high-occupancy vehicle lanes, or light or commuter rail, or some combination of the above. The median could also accommodate freight rail — an often-discussed possibility is relocating Union Pacific from its current MoPac tracks to SH 130, and then using the MoPac track for commuter rail. But Union Pacific has not expressed any interest so far in such a plan, and if the SH 130 median were used for freight rail — which by federal law requires 100 feet of clearance — it would eliminate the option of other uses.
The design also envisions cities, counties, or individual property owners providing “scenic easements” along the roadway. These were originally discussed “to enhance the visual quality of the highway,” the EIS notes, but they’re now being seen “as a way to preclude development along the right-of-way.” Acquiring these easements — along with acquiring the right of way itself — will be the localities’ job.
This article appears in January 21 • 2000.