Advocating for A Sensible Highway Design and
Preservation of Oak Hill
ALERT!
Urgent Response Needed
Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has announced groundbreaking on the Oak Hill highway project. With construction permits in hand, they are undertaking land clearing as you read this. Their twelve lane design, estimated to be a $700 million expenditure, represents an irresponsible waste of federal, state and local funds.
The highway department plans to sacrifice some 288 protected oak, elm, sycamore, willow and pecan trees for this project. If we allow TxDOT to proceed, their earth moving machinery would gouge a wide and deep scar in the limestone, more than 2.5 miles long, exactly where three fault lines converge. Their excavation would lead to rock and rubble runoff into fragile Barton Springs.
None of this is necessary. TxDOT could build the needed six freeway lanes at ground level and avoid most of the tree destruction and dangerous excavation.
Two pending lawsuits oppose the unnecessary damage to the community and environment. However, what we need most right now from YOU is an outpouring of public opposition. Go to the Speak Up Now option above to launch letters and make phone calls to the people who can put a pause on TxDOT's destruction until a sufficient and effective re-design can be completed. As well, dear neighbors and allies, we need some help with funding. Legal fees, consultations, and publicity are essential to the work. Please be as generous as you can at Speak Up Now above.
Despite the Rain on July 10, 2021, a Devoted Crowd Came to Celebrate the Contributions Our Centuries-Old Trees Have Made to Oak Hill
Our Signs, House after House, Demonstrate a Caring Community That Wants Solutions, Not Toxins and Not Waste
These are What We Stand to Lose
An Elegance of Oak, Pecan, Sycamore, Elm, and Willow
The ages of the 288 trees, added together, represent 68,000 years of growth
Who We Are
Across multiple neighborhoods in southwest Austin, residents have stepped forward to save the Oak Hill Community. We value its historical legacy, beginning with its place as home to the Tonkawa. Its ancient oaks and free-running creek were inviting to immigrant settlers and served as a rest and provisioning stop on cattle drives. For well over a century, Oak Hill neighbors have proved their civic pride through dedication to the schooling of their children and the nurturing of small businesses. Its unique topography provides a natural gateway to the Hill Country.
We oppose the degradation of Oak Hill's environment, the destruction of 288 of the most important and visible oaks of Oak Hill, the division of Oak Hill with an interstate highway up to 17 lanes wide, with a mile-long elevated high speed expressway up to 35 feet high and the depression of two miles as deep as 30 feet, the channelization of a half mile of Williamson Creek, permanent pollution of the Edwards Aquifer, the tremendous pollution from construction and even a concrete batch plant, all degrading our homes, businesses , churches, restaurants, and daycare centers.
We share a concern about the truthfulness of TXDOT and its contractors about their project’s overall impact on Oak Hill, about the serious design flaws in their elevated highway plans, ones based on outdated modeling and an incomplete and self-approved Environmental Impact Statement.
Above all, we love our neighbors, our neighborhoods, and our schools, and wish to preserve our quality of life for future generations to enjoy.
Contact
Call for Donations!
And Thank You; Your Generosity with Your Time, Talents, and Donations Inspires Us All to Carry On
Last month a handful of us worked to prevent placement of a concrete batch plant on the ACC Pinnacle Campus – and we won! Now we are fighting to prevent relocation of the plant to any point next to residential neighborhoods.
Please help by donating to our campaign to protect Oak Hill.