CR 176 at RM 2243

The CR 176 at RM 2243 project was created to improve the safety of the road and reduce the number of traffic accidents caused by two sharp, 90-degree turns in the area. CR 176 was originally designed to follow the property lines of private land ownership in the area. This resulted in 90-degree turns built into the road that drivers often didn’t notice, leading to an unacceptable number of accidents.

As project manager and lead design engineer on this project, we worked to improve safety of crossing traffic and pedestrians by widening and realigning the existing county road, relocating a heavily congested intersection, adding a section of shared-use paths, creating plans for future area development and bringing the road into compliance with the county-wide arterial network.

Our innovative design takes into account several challenges.

• The design includes 3-tiers of development that gradually increases the two-lane road, first to four lanes and ultimately to six lanes.
• The Edwards aquifer running under the road required our environmental team to address additional zoning considerations while planning for future permitting and filtration requirements that will affect the road as it expands.
• We worked in conjunction with the owner of the large property across the street to account for their future plans of housing development on the land.
• A large cave entrance was discovered far from the worksite. After site exploration, we learned that the cave runs under the road and would require us to do additional analysis and planning to stabilize the area, protect the road and existing aquifer.