Bastrop, Tx–The city hopes to team with the Texas Department of Transportation in seeking access to federal economic stimulus grants to construct a series of local highway projects that Bastrop has long sought.
Funding applications for work on Texas 71 and Texas 304 in and near Bastrop are due Sept. 1, said City Manager Mike Talbot. Eligible grants under the recently announced program must be valued at $20 million or more, and on its own the city is not planning any projects of that size, But TxDOT officials are eager to cooperate with the city in seeking funds, Talbot told the city council this week.
The projects Talbot has his eye on include proposed overpass structures on Texas 71 at FM 969 and FM 20, a project already 65 percent designed by TxDOT. Also on the city’s wish list are widening and other improvements on Texas 304 between its intersection with Texas 71 in Bastrop and the Jacob’s Landing subdivision as well as a Texas 71 overpass at Tahitian Drive/Loop 150 near the city’s eastern boundary.
Design work on the Texas 304 project is also about 65 percent complete and planning work has begun for the Tahitian Drive overpass, Talbot said in a Friday telephone interview.
He could not say when the fate of the planned applications will be announced.
The city has already applied for some $11 million in stimulus funds through the Texas Water Development Board to build a new wastewater treatment plant near Texas 304 to serve existing and planned commercial and residential developments on Bastrop’s west side. Design work on that project is complete, according to Talbot.