The Texas Transportation Commission this week authorized projects to replace the Highway 6 Twin Bridges over Lake Waco and to reconstruct a section of West Highway 84, setting aside a total of $100 million for those projects.
The commission on Wednesday also approved a funding adjustment of $131 million to the project to rebuild and widen Interstate 35 from 12th Street to South Loop 340, the last piece of funding for the $262.5 million project.
Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday that that the state would make a record investment of $142 billion in state transportation infrastructure projects over the next 10 years through the 2024 Unified Transportation Program that the commission approved. That includes $2 billion allocated over the next decade to the Texas Department of Transportation’s Waco District, which covers McLennan, Bell, Bosque, Coryell, Falls, Hamilton, Hill and Limestone counties.
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The update also includes $236 million for projects in the Waco District that are newly added to the Unified Transportation Program.
Those include $40.9 million for the expansion and reconstruction of U.S. Highway 84 between Hewitt Drive and New Road. The project includes new ramps, main lanes, frontage roads, interchanges and direct connectors, Waco District spokesperson Jake Smith said in a press release.
Also newly added is the replacement of the Highway 6 Twin Bridges over Lake Waco for $60 million, with a start date between 2024 and 2027. Over the last five years, local TxDOT officials have discussed eventually replacing the structure, which was built in 1964, citing its age and lack of shoulders.
Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization Director Mukesh Kumar said both the Twin Bridges and Highway 84 projects will be in the design and engineering phase for a long time.
Kumar said the MPO is still working on addressing public comments and questions posed about the Highway 84 project during a public meeting hosted by the TxDOT Waco District in April.
He said the information and ideas discussed at that meeting, including a “dog bone” intersection at Hewitt Drive, are not final, and the MPO Policy Board will discuss its options for Highway 84 during its September, October and November meetings.
The newly updated Unified Transportation Program list shows that the total cost of improving the Highway 84 segment is $223.3 million, and the source for most of that funding has not been determined. The project is expected to be let between 2028 and 2033.
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