“I think that everyone is pretty much resigned to the fact that it’s going to happen,” Rockdale Chamber of Commerce President Denice Doss said. “Businesses are nervous about it because we don’t know what will happen to drive-through business when we don’t have as much drive-through traffic.”
Rockdale’s business community has heard enough ghost-town horror stories about major highways routed through small towns that “did a lot of the businesses in,” Mrs. Doss said. “It’s a little bit unnerving. We know history from other small towns and how loops devastated them for years. It is definitely a concern for businesses along Highway 79 and how it will affect their business. We will have to see. At this point, there is no turning back. We are going to get the loop, it’s just a matter of when it will happen.”
Bob Colwell, public information officer for the Texas Department of Transportation’s Bryan District, said right-of-way acquisition is expected to begin next spring to accommodate the 10-mile loop. Construction is expected to start in 2011. The bypass, originally planned as a four-lane thoroughfare, will originate as a two-lane highway with plans to “wait for more growth and more funding” before expanding into four lanes.
The Milam County Commissioners Court last week signed an agreement to pay TxDOT $100,000 installments annually through 2010, with a final portion of $112,000 to be paid in 2011. The amount constitutes 6.4 percent of the country’s share of the state’s $8 million right-of-way budget. The loop will be constructed around the north side of Rockdale.
TxDOT is designing the loop to have controlled access, meaning only two farm-to-market roads along the route would connect. The state will prohibit access from privately owned property, meaning no businesses could operate on the loop, Colwell said.
TxDOT officials have said that of the 14,500 vehicles recorded driving through Rockdale during a 24-hour span, only an estimated 20 to 25 percent would actually use the bypass, based on studies in other cities.
Taylor, Rockdale’s Williamson County neighbor, has endured a highway loop since 1972 with “no negative impact on the businesses in downtown Taylor,” according to John Nelson, executive director of the Taylor Economic Development Corporation.
“There is not really that much traffic on our loop,” Nelson said. “I doubt if very many people actually take that loop around Taylor because it’s so easy to get through Taylor. There aren’t that many stop lights. You are not really being slowed down or held up.”
The Taylor City Council’s recently enacted ordinance requiring trucks to use the loop and avoid downtown has been effective because it diminished noise and vibrations, said Nelson, who moved to Taylor in 1972. The city has grown steadily at a modest rate of 1 to 2 percent per year to its current estimated population of 16,000, he said.
Increasing traffic volumes from motorists eastbound from Austin could offset the effects of the bypass on Rockdale businesses, Mrs. Doss said. Many residents “are thinking we need to have our traffic problem controlled, but I don’t think they realize the negative impact it could have on our businesses.”
Police Chief Thomas Harris said the bypass would “at least alleviate some of our truck traffic” but no one could predict how the loop would impact businesses. Harris said he takes the loop around Taylor when driving to Austin, and “I have never noticed that much traffic on that loop.”
The manager of Rockdale’s Dairy Queen said the loop probably would take away some business.
Elisha Cantrell, co-manager of Rockdale’s McDonald’s, said she believes the loop would have little impact on restaurant business because “there are very few places to eat around Rockdale.”
“Whether there is a loop around here or not, they are still going to come to McDonald’s,” Ms. Cantrell said.
Allan Miller, Rockdale mayor pro tem and co-owner of Miller-Starnes Chevrolet, said he has heard discussions about a loop for years and all comments were negative. Restaurants and motels are not the only businesses that might be impacted by the loop, Miller said.
Miller-Starnes logs steady calls every Monday from out-of-towners who drove by, saw a vehicle they wanted to buy and made the purchase from this longtime Rockdale business.
“I can certainly see where there would be impact,” Miller said. “Significant, no, but an impact, sure. All business is based on count. That’s why your Wal-Marts and chain restaurants and Home Depots study those demographics, even one block can make a difference because of traffic count. That’s what it’s all about, a traffic count.”
jwilliams@temple-telegram.com
