County plans road safety improvements

Steps to improve safety on State Highway 123, Farm to Market Road 110 and Centerpoint Road got the nod from the Hays County Commissioners Court on Tuesday.

The commissioners approved an advance funding agreement between Hays County and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) related to the project to build an overpass at the intersection of FM 110 and SH 123. 

“The at-grade intersection, as it is today, is very confusing and dangerous,” Precinct 1 Commissioner Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe said.

The advance funding agreement would memorialize the roles and responsibilities of TxDOT and Hays County in the project. The agreement is required for the county to receive federal construction funding. According to the commissioners’ agenda, TxDOT is slated to contribute just over $6 million in state and federal funds, and the county will contribute a total of $2.6 million.

“The traffic on 123 has really increased,” Ingalsbe noted as Precinct 3 Commissioner Lon Shell called the existing intersection “extremely dangerous.”

The commissioners also voted to select Pape-Dawson to perform a feasibility study on Centerpoint Road in Precinct 1. Ingalsbe said that funds have been set aside in the county’s transportation budget to look at safety improvements at two blind hills on Centerpoint Road, including one near the intersection of Centerpoint and Beback Inn.

“It’s become very dangerous,” Ingalsbe said. “Residents in the area have requested that we cut down that hill.”

Jerry Borcherding from the county roads department explained, “It’s a complicated area, with utilities involved, and we felt it prudent to get an engineering firm involved to make sure we do it properly.”

Both measures passed unanimously.