Road Scholar

Appraisal total for Austin's SH 45 Toll Road right of way

The spreadsheet total shown below shows that the May 22, 2002 appraisal cost estimates for SH 45 were coming in at $72 million -- far above the $58 million cap approved by the city council for the costs of right of way along SH 45. The document below is from page 2 of a long list of often highly fragmented scraps of land parcels the City of Austin had agreed to buy. These were to be funded out of the $150 million in Proposition 2 transportation bond money approved in November 2000. The SH 45 land totaled about 50 acres. The city ended up paying on the order of a million dollars per acre for the right of way, with additional costs for relocating utilities, etc.

SH 45 is the East-West toll road that incorporated part of SH 130, and that was intended to be part of the CTTP toll road network and cross IH 35 and tie into SH130; it was effectively a northern part of the original "Outer Loop" proposed in the mid-1970's. These toll road roads were in large part planned to serve future growth in travel demand to serve commuters living in Williamson County.

posted by Road Scholar @ 12:59 PM