West Austin Residents Raise Concerns About Courtyard/RM 2222 Project

West Austin residents gathered at Riverbend Church Wednesday, May 13, for a TxDOT event regarding the agency’s $68.4 million overhaul of Loop 360 at Courtyard Drive and RM 2222, where they met the project team and asked questions about potential impacts on traffic, safety, and access in the area. 

The work will route Loop 360 beneath Courtyard Drive through a new underpass, eliminating the traffic signal there, and convert the RM 2222 intersection into a diverging diamond interchange (DDI), designed to improve traffic flow at intersections with heavy left-turn volumes. Shared-use paths and sidewalks will also be added within the project limits.

“All this work on Loop 360 isn’t for the residents who live on Loop 360,” said Costas Tzaperas, a West Austin resident who has lived in the area for 35 years. “It’s for thoroughfare traffic, for people from Leander and Cedar Park to get south.” 

Hailey Thompson, who lives near another Loop 360 underpass project at Westlake Drive, said she attended the meeting to better understand why the changes are being made and how they will impact the Loop 360 corridor and surrounding neighborhoods.

“I need to understand, from an engineering standpoint, the benefit to this,” she said.

Thompson questioned whether the shared-use paths would be safe or practical, doubting that parents would let children bike or walk along a high-speed corridor. She was more concerned with what the project would do for drivers than for cyclists or pedestrians.

Data from existing DDIs elsewhere in Austin shows the design has helped reduce congestion, according to Lucas Short, a project manager for TxDOT. Federal guidelines require the agency to incorporate bicycle and pedestrian accommodations as a routine part of planning and design on federally funded projects.

Residents meet with TxDOT at Riverbend Church on May 13 Credit: Sam Craft

TxDOT officials pushed back on the idea that the project primarily serves commuters. About 90% of traffic on the corridor is through traffic, and removing the signal is actually most beneficial for local residents who currently get stuck waiting for that volume to pass, according to MJ Van, a public information officer for TxDOT. West Courtyard Drive residents will gain three new points of access to the main roadway once the Courtyard Drive bridge is complete, she said.

“The goal is to improve mobility for drivers, but we’re also improving options for pedestrians and cyclists, too,” Van said. 

Residents also raised questions about access to the Pennybacker Bridge overlook, a popular spot long reached through informal shoulder parking along Loop 360. The new roadway configuration will eliminate those shoulders. Using the shoulders for parking has always been illegal, though law enforcement has often not enforced the ban, according to Short.

City Council voted unanimously in December 2024 to acquire about 1.5 acres near West Courtyard Drive and Loop 360 for replacement parking, sidewalks, and trails at the overlook.

The project, which is part of TxDOT’s wider Loop 360 Program, is funded through TxDOT, the city’s 2016 mobility bond, and the Federal Highway Administration. Though the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the federal infrastructure law that expanded FHWA funding, expires Sept. 30, federal funds are formally obligated for the project regardless of whether Congress renews the law, according to Bradley Wheelis, southwest communications director at TxDOT.

Construction is expected to take three to four years across four phases. According to Wheelis, the second phase is tentatively expected to begin in about a year, but the timeline is subject to change.

“This may be the best solution [TxDOT] ha[s],” Tzaperas said, “but with all the increased development, I’m not gonna kid myself and think that all of a sudden, we’re not gonna have traffic in here.”

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