Williamson County hosted a ribbon cutting Wednesday to celebrate the conclusion of improvements made on County Road 200 from the Capital Metro Railroad (CMTA) to County Road 201.
“This is the celebration of our 200th completed project in the voter-approved Road Bond program,” said Commissioner Cynthia Long. “That represents over 389 new capacity miles and almost 800 miles of improved roadways through voter-approved bonds since 2000.”
She added that the CR 200 project is one of many that the County has invested in in the Liberty Hill area, including projects on Ronald Reagan Boulevard, U.S. Highway 183 and Seward Junction.
“In the last 15 years we have invested over $90 million into construction projects in Liberty Hill,” she said. “This particular project’s overall cost was about $7 million. We had to purchase 29 parcels to be able to make this section of the roadway possible.”
The improvement project consisted of reconstruction of one mile of the existing roadway, grading and drainage improvements, the addition of flexible base and hot mix asphalt pavement, and the installation of striping and pavement markers. Additionally, a new railroad crossing was installed with new ties, concrete track panels, railroad gates, a signal house and raised center medians on both sides of the crossing. Construction on the project began in November 2021.
“This section of roadway is critical because it makes getting in and out of [Liberty Hill City] Park so much safer,” Long said. “I know the City is looking forward to next summer with the community pool opening.”
Liberty Hill Mayor Liz Branigan, who was also at the ceremony, agreed.
“This is quite an improvement,” she said. “This road is much safer for our soccer players and also for our new swimmers.”
This project was the third to be done to improve CR 200. Other projects included adding turn lanes onto State Highway 29, widening CR 200 and Loop 332 and installing new traffic signals and a water line. That project was completed in summer 2019.
Another project widened CR 200 and added a left turn lane onto Bold Sundown in the ClearWater Ranch neighborhood. That project was completed in November 2018.
Long added that more improvements are planned for CR 200 in the future.
“Our long term transportation plan has CR 200 being improved all the way up to CR 236,” she told The Independent. “That will happen as funding and subsequent road bond programs happen. We are also working on some planning for CR 201. We are going to try to straighten up the sharp curve that’s there.”
The next road project the County plans to work on in Liberty Hill will be the Liberty Hill bypass, which will run from RM 1869 to CR 279/Bagdad Road.
“We are completing the right-of-way acquisition for the Liberty Hill bypass,” Long told The Independent. “It will go under construction early next year and is going to be hugely beneficial because people can hit that bypass section and won’t have to tie up downtown (Loop 332).”
