A not-all-that-wise Whisenant

There are times when statements from locally elected officials really knock me for a loop. For instance, there is one credited to Hays County Precinct 4 Commissioner Ray Whisenant that’s contained in a story in this week’s Hays Free Press in which reporter Samantha Smith quotes Whisenant talking about the proposed FM 150 realignment between Arroyo Ranch Road and the intersection of I-35 and Yarrington Road.

"The purpose of this project is to relieve traffic congestion on I-35," Smith quoted Whisenant as saying.

Now, perhaps Smith misquoted him, but something tells me that’s not the case. Something tells me this Whisenant fellow is simply clueless, unless, that is, he can explain how a new and improved road, designed to handle additional traffic, will relieve traffic congestion on the highway it feeds into.

Not only that, if everything goes according to plan, this FM 150 realignment will, in the long run, be part of a transportation redesign that will have the affect of greatly increasing traffic on I-35 through our city.

The short-term goal of the FM 150 realignment, of course, has absolutely nothing to do with relieving congestion in I-35 and everything to do with giving those motorists traveling from the Dripping Springs area, especially those who want to go south on I-35, an alternate to getting to the interstate via a two-lane road that goes through downtown Kyle and is often backed up by Southern Pacific freight trains. Once that realignment is complete, that stretch of 150 between Arroyo Ranch Road and I-35 that now goes through downtown Kyle will be re-branded as "Business FM 150," which I still think will be the preferred route for those wishing to go north on I-35 toward Austin.

The long-term goal of the realignment is to provide those motorists traveling east on U.S. 290 a faster route to Houston that completely bypasses Austin as well as all those bergs on 290 (or State Highway 71, my preferred route) because eventually another controlled access highway is going to be constructed on the east side of I-35 connecting the realigned FM 150 to Interstate 10.

And that’s what will result in the increased traffic between Austin and Kyle on I-35. That will be the preferred Austin-to-Houston route, especially for those living west of I-35. Incidentally, this was also the reason why developers wanted to put a truck stop right there at the corner of I-35 and Yarrington, to take advantage of all that increased traffic that will be exiting I-35 at that point to go east to Houston and points further east on I-10. That’s also the primary reason the City of Kyle was so anxious to complete its recent voluntary annexation so that it could take advantage of the commercial development that should naturally sprout up along the realigned FM 150, once it becomes part of the Houston bypass. With the annexation, the realigned FM 150 will be within Kyle’s city limits.

If this was Politifact, it would have labeled Whisenant’s statement "The purpose of this project is to relieve traffic congestion on I-35" as "Liar, liar, pants on fire." But this is not Politifact, so I’ll just say "Wise up, Whisenant."