In order to avoid a traffic jam on I-35 last weekend, I made my way to Parmer by way of old McNeil Road in Round Rock. I don’t find myself around there often, but I’ve known McNeil for the past eighteen years. It’s a long straight stretch that with very little traffic tempts any car to ignore the posted 45mph. There is a quarry (which I’ve photographed on a few occasions), a small general store/post office of the sort one finds in small towns, and not much else.
As I was cruising along, I saw a gigantic traffic interchange in the middle of what was once open land. Old McNeil runs under this behemoth and continues along its merry way past the quarry and towards the new version of McNeil that is sort of an extension of Howard Lane.
Driving toward the new – and as yet unopened – interchange, I was struck by the fact that I had no idea what highways the interchange had been built to connect, and yet they come from three directions and meet in the sky above McNeil. I’m pretty familiar with north Austin, but what were these strange roads and whither do they go?
I’ve been trying to wrap my mind around the ongoing festival of road construction in north Austin for quite some time. Interchanges and new roads are springing up everywhere, and rather than research the issue at TxDot, I find it more fun to figure it out on my own. It’s like a mystery written in concrete or a game that you only play at those odd times when you’re transiting across the playing field on the way to somewhere else.
The McNeil interchange is a piece that I haven’t quite figured out yet. It appears that the highways leaving the mysterious interchange might connect 620, I-35, and possibly Mopac, all of which are undergoing extensive remodeling. Of course none of these highways have ever traversed McNeil. Perhaps one of the two new highways: TX-130 and TX-45 is involved, and when these roads open they will lead to this interchange, thus solving this piece of the puzzle.
I guess when all the construction is complete and all the new roads open, we’ll have to learn our collective way around north Austin all over again, which should provide a few weeks of missed turns and bad driving just to add to the sport.
UPDATE: An alert reader who knows every road in the area (that’s you, Dad) sent an email that explains the workings of the mysterious overpass in the sky. Those of you who enjoy mystery as a part of your drive should not read any further or you’ll find out that this is where all the roads go:
The interchange at McNeil connects the Mopac extension (toll) with SH 45 (toll) which runs from 183 and 620 (Lakeline area) to Tx 130 (toll) in Pflugerville near where you guys used to live via the new interchange at I35 and La Frontera. In addition, at 620/183 it will link to 183A (toll) which is the bypass around Cedar Park and Leander. TX 130 runs from north of Georgetown (near Walburg) to Seguin (eventually).
So there you have it.
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
My guess is that SH-45 will somehow be involved. That monster’s gonna be huge!
I think maybe it doesn’t matter where it goes….perhaps only the journey matters!
scim, thanks for visiting. It seems 45 is involved. It’ll be interesting to see Austin from a whole new highway.
Scottage, I’m with you on this.