Georgetown, Texas, has hired Rick Chellman of TND

Georgetown, Texas, has hired Rick Chellman of TND Engineering to redesign a four-lane, high-speed, rural road leading into the courthouse square. State Highway 35, also known as Austin Avenue, is proposed to be rebuilt as a boulevard with a 14-foot, tree-lined center median, two 10-foot travel lanes (one in each direction), 4-foot shoulders, 11-foot tree lawns, and 8-foot sidewalks fronting on-street retails. The transformation of the 2,000-foot-long strech of road is being funded by $6 million from the Texas Department of Transportation, Chellman told New Urban News. “Texas DOT had proposed ‘fixing’ the road by turning it into a five-lane, 45 miles per hour highway, but that was not something citizens wanted,” he says. “DOT is turning over ownership [of that section of the road] to the city and using the funds earmarked for the widening project to pay for the pedestrian and streetscape enhancements.”