oakhillgazette.com
April 17, 2014 Volume 19, No. 8 Southwest Austin’s Community Newspaper Since 1995
OHAN leaders push for action on RM-1826 by Bobbie Jean Sawyer
It’s no secret that Austin’s population boom has impacted traffic on every major thoroughfare in the city. But the increase in development in Oak Hill and formerly rural Travis County areas has taken a toll on smaller roads as well and many residents fear the worst is yet to come. RM-1826 was once a quiet coun-
New developments, blind curves and no turn lanes said to have made road increasingly dangerous try road stretching from Austin to Camp Ben McCulloch and the Salt Lick BBQ. But Aan Coleman, an Oak Hill Association of Neighborhoods (OHAN) board member and a resi-
dent of Lewis Mountain Ranch, says just turning into her subdivision off of RM-1826 is a risky move. “People are right on my bumper as I turn in my neighborhood,” Cole-
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man said. “There’s just no way that road can accommodate the traffic it has on it.” Coleman said in the nine years she’s lived off of RM-1826 she’s seen development increase dramatically due to residential lots and subdivisions being built further down RM-1826 toward Driftwood. “What was once very rural is now very suburban,” Coleman said. RM-1826 is lacking in even the most basic safety standards, Cole-
man said, and the lack of turn lanes is a risk for the many cyclists who use the road. “There are actually lots of blind curves in the road. When bicycles get on the road people try to pass and I’m shocked at times. You can’t really see oncoming traffic but people do it anyway,” Coleman said. “Because there’s no turning lane the same thing happens. When you’re turning you take up the only lane. People actually try to pass people who are trying to turn.” Rick Perkins, a Granada Hills resident and OHAN secretary, said the See OHAN on back page
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In this stretch of RM-1826 there is no shoulder or railing on either side as it crosses the creek near the entrance to a City of Austin hiking area. At night, the road is very poorly lit with few street lights.