Leander officials, Harmony Public Schools outline traffic plan as Hero Way school opens; long-term road rebuild to continue through 2028

City of Leander staff, county representatives and Harmony Public Schools told residents they have a short‑term traffic plan and a longer timeline of phased road construction as Harmony’s new campus prepares to open on Hero Way.

Todd Parton, City Manager for the City of Leander, opened the meeting by saying the event was “to talk about the Harmony public schools that is opening up on Hero Way,” and to outline both immediate measures and the multi‑year Hero Way reconstruction that will proceed while the school operates.

Harmony Public Schools’ District Director of Public Relations Victoria Manchadotla said Harmony Central Texas operates 72 campuses statewide and that the new Leander campus will use scheduled arrival and dismissal windows to limit peak impact. “Our morning traffic window is gonna be drop off period from 7AM to 07:45,” Manchadotla said. She said afternoon dismissal will be staggered Monday–Thursday, with 50% of students released at 3:20 p.m. and the remainder at 4 p.m., and earlier release on Fridays.

Robin Griffin, Leander development services director, said the school completed permitting steps: the site was annexed and zoned in 2022, construction permits were issued in 2024, and the city issued a certificate of completion for site work and a certificate of occupancy “(the) certificate of completion is conditional because they're still missing landscaping,” Griffin said.

Harmony and city staff described a mix of infrastructure and operational measures intended to reduce queueing on Hero Way while construction continues. Harmony said its property provides 3,632 linear feet of on‑site queuing — nearly 12 football fields — and that the plan exceeds cited MSTA average and high‑demand thresholds. Harmony said it will use electronic queuing, additional trained traffic coordinators, a mock driveline rehearsal on Aug. 11, and contracted Leander Police Department officers to manage arrival and dismissal times.

Michael Riley, public works assistant director for Streets and Drainage, explained signal timing planned for the new school signal: east‑west Hero Way traffic will generally have a green indication unless vehicles are exiting the school; when exit traffic is detected the controller will allocate time for exiting vehicles and then return to east‑west green. Riley described a minimum exit phase of roughly 10–18 seconds and a maximum cycle of about 50 seconds during heavier exit flows, and said staff will monitor and adjust timings remotely as needed.

City Engineer Emily Truman and county staff described the Hero Way reconstruction as a multi‑phase project. Truman said the county’s first phase will construct a three‑lane frontage road segment tying to U.S. 183A and that construction advertisement was planned for late 2025 with construction beginning in early 2026; the overall multi‑phase project is expected to finish in mid‑2028. The city’s separate but related project (the “blue” section in the presentation) is in design and estimated as an approximately $28,000,000 project; the city said design would take 18–24 months and follow the county’s initial phases.

Residents questioned why certain nearby intersections (including San Gabriel Parkway and Palmyra Ridge/Reagan) have not been completed sooner, whether a single ingress/egress at the school is safe in emergencies, and whether Harmony will provide bus service. Manchadotla said Harmony is open to considering buses but noted the school’s families come from many zip codes: “we're estimating with Leander that we're going to be serving anywhere from 20 to 30 different zip codes,” she said, and added that many families have siblings and use carpools.

Officials committed to monitoring and communication. The city said it will use a project web page (leandertx.gov/heroway), social media, and a distribution list for updates; Communications Manager Ty Mee said staff would provide regular updates to city council and the public. The city also noted traffic cameras and radar devices will be used at the school signal for monitoring; staff gave an approximate purchase cost for monitoring equipment and an annual video service fee during the discussion.

What happened next: staff said they will monitor the first weeks of school closely, have police and staff on site during peak days, and consider operational changes (signal timing or turn pockets) if backups appear. Griffin said the city collected a fee‑in‑lieu payment from the developer for traffic work and that some funds are being used for mitigation measures discussed at the meeting.

Why it matters: the new campus will immediately add school‑period traffic to a corridor under multi‑year reconstruction. Residents emphasized safety and access for emergency vehicles, the potential for traffic to spill into neighborhood streets, and interest in alternatives such as bus service. City and school officials said they will keep monitoring and revise operations as needed until the permanent road improvements are complete.

The city and Harmony left contact options for ongoing concerns: Leander staff said residents may submit questions to info@leandertx.gov and sign up for project updates via the Hero Way project webpage; Harmony staff and the school principal said they will maintain direct school contact lines and social media updates for families and neighbors.