In September 2022, the Thomas Springs/Circle Drive Neighborhood Alliance secured a victory when the Travis County Commissioners Court unanimously voted to suspend the Thomas Springs Road widening project.

Approved by the voters in 2017 as a bicycle safety project, the design of the project inexplicably ballooned into a road widening and realignment project that would have caused irreparable harm to the sensitive local environment and to homes along Thomas Springs Road. The project would have added 16 feet of pavement on the existing 20-foot-wide roadway, cleared—using condemnation—a new large swath of right-of-way, and irreversibly destroyed Golden-cheeked warbler habitat and valuable trees. The new roadway would have required significant new drainage infrastructure, which would have altered drainage patterns in the Edwards Aquifer Contributing Zone where springs and environmental features were identified on properties adjacent to the road.

After residents and the Neighborhood Alliance repeatedly raised concerns regarding the lack of justification for the project, particularly in light of the anticipated impacts, the Travis County Commissioners suspended the project indefinitely.

The Neighborhood Alliance was represented by Lauren Ice, a Partner of Perales, Allmon & Ice.

Learn more about the project in this Community Impact story by Katy McAfee.