DEL VALLE, Texas (KXAN) – Some of our smaller Hill Country school districts are back to school Tuesday, and Wednesday students just east of Austin go back to the classroom.
As KXAN traffic anchor Erica Brennes gears up to bring you all your back to school traffic reports, she has an update to a project that should help the flow of traffic in Del Valle.
As teachers and staff tie up loose ends before students fill the halls and classrooms in Del Valle Independent School District, construction crews are putting the finishing touches on the roads and sidewalks that parents and kids will use to get to school.
“We’ve seen tremendous growth in that area, in eastern Travis County, and then obviously that entire 71 East corridor that takes you out to Bastrop,” said Jeff Barker, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Transportation.
TxDOT has opened the new main lanes of Highway 71 at Ross Road and Kellam Road in Del Valle after more than three years of construction.
“At the moment, we’re wrapping up completion on it and wrapping up final pavings and striping this month after that, obviously they’ll work on some of the minor punch list items, like mowing, concrete work and other things like that. So, yeah, it’s coming together. We’re wrapping it up,” Barker said.
You’ll still see some barrels and the crews on the service road wrapping things up before an official completion, but it should help the flow of traffic for DVISD.
Del Valle is a unique district because the high school, middle school, elementary school and school district offices are all on the same road.
Ross Road, between Highway 71 and Pearce Lane, is where more than 11,000 students are about to make their return to school.
Ross Road is actually on the city of Austin’s list of substandard roads. Improvements are coming, but not until early 2025 — when the two-lane road will become five lanes, with a center turn lane and new bicycle and pedestrian facilities.