Roadway & Infrastructure Tracker

The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority finished extending the 183A Toll 6.6 miles north from Hero Way in Leander to just past SH 29 in Liberty Hill, a $260 million project. The extension is now fully open, giving drivers roughly 16 miles of uninterrupted tolled travel between Liberty Hill and northwest Austin — bypassing several signalized intersections that previously slowed the Santa Rita Ranch and Bryson commute in particular.

A separate $612 million CTRMA project is adding tolled express lanes along US 183 North, connecting toward MoPac. Most work happens overnight to limit daytime disruption. The project was expected to wrap in early 2026 — worth confirming current status before assuming it's finished, since large tollway projects routinely slip.

TxDOT is proposing to widen the 13-mile stretch of US 290 from RM 1826 in southwest Austin to Dripping Springs from four lanes to six, eliminate the current signalized intersections, and add frontage roads with bike and pedestrian paths. The stated reason: peak-hour traffic on this corridor is projected to jump 45% by 2045 if nothing changes, and the corridor saw over 1,500 crashes between 2019 and 2022. The plan has drawn real pushback from some Dripping Springs residents over property impacts — TxDOT's own materials note the design could affect roughly 13 homes, 82 businesses, and a church. As of this writing, the project is still in the environmental study and design phase, with no confirmed construction start date. Treat "the highway is being widened" as a multi-year story, not a near-term event.

A more contained piece of the same corridor — upgrading this specific stretch from a four-lane divided highway to six lanes with pedestrian and bicycle accommodations — is further along, with design work underway. This segment sits closer to Belterra and Headwaters than the broader Oak Hill study area.

TxDOT broke ground on this $5.6 billion project through downtown Austin, adding non-tolled managed lanes in each direction from US 290 East to SH 71/Ben White, lowering the mainlanes between Airport Boulevard and Lady Bird Lake, and removing the upper decks. The project's own stated timeline is roughly nine years to completion. For any household weighing a downtown Austin commute against a new-construction purchase south or east of the city, this is a decade of active construction to plan around, not a short-term detour.

This extension gives South Buda a more direct route to I-35, easing what a former Hays County commissioner described as an especially important commute corridor — by his account, roughly 80% of Buda and Kyle residents commute to Austin for work. Already complete and open, this one is worth knowing about specifically because it already happened; older commute-time information for Sunfield and Kissing Tree may not reflect it.