Council approves conceptual design and funding step for West Go Forth Road after debate over trees and drainage

Buda City Council voted to advance the West Go Forth Road redesign and to approve a task order to continue design work after a detailed update from engineering staff and residents’ concerns.

Trukene Crawford, who introduced the project, said the redesign stretches from FM 2770/Robert S. Light east to I‑35 and that engineers reduced the number of parcels affected from 36 to 28 through “optimization” and by recentering the alignment. Andrea Bryant, the project’s design lead, said the team had narrowed some landscape buffers from five feet to two feet in limited locations to preserve protected trees and avoid additional right‑of‑way takings.

Residents and several council members pressed staff on tree protection and drainage. Karen Hissman told the council the current plan still locates a 10‑foot sidewalk over the critical root zone of a large tree on Lot 3 and urged the council to treat West Go Forth as a residential street rather than a new corridor. “It would be devastating if a 10‑foot sidewalk killed a beautiful tree that everybody has tried to save,” Hissman said.

Staff described a mid‑process requirement from Union Pacific that forced larger drainage changes: several culverts under South Loop 4 must be removed or capped so drainage cannot flow through UP right‑of‑way. That change shifted drainage routing, increased headwall and inlet needs and raised the project’s cost. Staff said the project’s overall estimate has risen to roughly $5 million and that communications and power relocations remain unknown variables.

On the narrower procedural items, council approved a motion to accept the conceptual design and to proceed to schematic design and property‑acquisition planning. Council later approved Task Order No. 8 to Fries & Nichols — a not‑to‑exceed $572,485 contract to consolidate unfinished work from earlier task orders and complete design through construction administration — by voice vote. City staff said the task order is largely time‑and‑materials and will move selected items from prior task orders into a single document for project management.

Council members and staff said additional design detail and modeling (including hydraulic modeling to validate culvert capacity under South Loop 4) will follow before final design, and that acquisition of easements is likely to be the longest part of the schedule. Staff also said the project team will continue seeking state and federal grants to cover construction shortfalls and that work with Union Pacific on a final design and permit will determine the construction timeline.

Next steps: staff will complete hydraulic modeling, produce a probable cost estimate for council review (targeted for February), seek schematic design approval in March, and then move toward acquisition and permitting once the design is validated.