Bridge resurfaces over Llano River and reunites a community

Construction of the new RM 2900 bridge over the Llano River is nearly complete as seen in this photograph taken on May 16, 2019. [JAY JANNER/AMERICAN-STATESMAN]

For seven months, businesses and residents alike in Kingsland struggled after floodwaters washed away RM 2900 bridge

By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz
Published on May 23, 2019

When the Llano River flooded last October to an extent it hadn't in decades, Rick Tisdale stood on the south side of the RM 2900 bridge and watched the water do what water sometimes does.

"We saw the bridge wash away," recalled Tisdale, a banker. "It was kind of scary."

It also turned out to be quite inconvenient. The north-south bridge was the lifeline between the two parts of Kingsland, an unincorporated community about 60 miles northwest of Austin. About 5,600 vehicles traveled it each day.

For residents like Tisdale, who lives a half-mile south of the bridge, as well as those in Sunrise Beach a few miles farther south, a quick trip to the H-E-B grocery store, post office, doctor's office or pharmacy on the north side was suddenly a thing of the past. They've had to drive about 45 minutes on alternate routes instead. Ditto for school buses taking children from south Kingsland to Packsaddle Elementary in north Kingsland. Ambulance services and volunteer fire departments in the area had to rejigger their coverage zones, too.

Before and after photos of the Ranch Road 2900 bridge over the Llano River in Kingsland.

Until now. The Texas Department of Transportation and its contractor, Austin-based Capital Excavation Co., are putting the finishing touches on a new, $17.3 million bridge for a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday. Officials plan to open it immediately to traffic, said Diann Hodges, a spokeswoman for TxDOT.

The 1,200-foot bridge is sturdier and somewhat higher than the old one, which was built in 1969. It's also wider, with 12-foot lanes — one in each direction — along with 6-foot shoulders and a 6-foot sidewalk. It is "perched," meaning that the center is higher than the ends.

"The height of the overall bridge was limited by the overhead utilities and the underground utilities," Hodges said. "The design criteria for this location only requires a new bridge to meet a 50-year storm event. The 50-year design may be a little bit of a misnomer in that the bridge will not fail; it simply will not be completely dry through a rain event greater than a 50-year intensity."

The flooding on Oct. 16 was the second highest on record for the Llano, a tributary of the Colorado River. According to a report by the nonprofit Llano River Watershed Alliance, as much as 13 inches of rain had fallen on parts of the Llano's watershed, most of it in two days — about half what falls in an average year, Some of the Llano's silty flow made its way to Austin, where city officials posted a nearly week-long directive urging residents to boil tap water used for drinking or cooking.

It likely was a combination of debris and the sheer force of the water that took out the RM 2900 bridge, Hodges said. Water rushed down the Llano at a rate of 278,000 cubic feet per second, according to the watershed alliance. That's equal to 125 million gallons per minute, or about the volume of 189 Olympic-size pools.

The highest flow on record in the Llano was 380,000 cfs on June 14, 1935, when a gauge in the city of Llano measured 41.5 feet. The river peaked at 40.17 feet on Oct. 16. A 50-year flood on the Llano, with a 1 in 50 chance of happening each year, measures 284,000 cfs, said Cory Van Pelt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham credited TxDOT and its contractor for showing impressive speed in replacing the bridge. TxDOT, which lined up a mix of state and federal funding, awarded the contract 15 days after the bridge collapsed, Hodges said. Construction began in November and continued apace, sometimes for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Appreciative local residents took meals to construction crews from time to time. "They were away from their families at Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter," said Susan Patten, president of the Kingsland/Lake LBJ Chamber of Commerce and co-owner of Valentine Lakeside Lodge & RV Camp.

Meanwhile, stores and businesses in north Kingsland that rely on customers from Sunrise Beach and Sandy Harbor on the south side struggled, Patten said. "Knowing that the bridge would be back in several months helped a lot," she said. "Some folks got very creative. They ferried each other in boats."

Boat Town Burger Bar, on the north bank of the Llano, lost at least half of its business, said Nicole Brooks, assistant general manager. "A lot of our customers come from the other side," she said. "We can throw a stone at them, but it takes a 45-minute drive to get here. We're just happy everyone from the other side is going to be able to come back over here for the Memorial Day weekend."

Danny Stone, chief of the Kingsland Volunteer Fire Department, on the north side, said the Sunrise Beach department took over responding to calls in south Kingsland. An emergency medical services unit in Horseshoe Bay began serving that area as well.

"That's one of the things about a disaster — it brings everybody together," Cunningham said.

In addition to replacing the RM 2900 bridge, TxDOT plans to build a bridge in 2021 at what is now a low-water crossing upriver on the Llano on Slab Road. Given its propensity to flood with even relatively light rainfall, Slab wasn't much help during the past seven months, and in any event, a half-hour drive is required to reach the road from south Kingsland.

Patten, for her part, can't wait for Kingsland's July 4th festival, known as Aquaboom. "This year is the 50th Aquaboom celebration," she said. "People will sit on the new bridge and watch the fireworks. We are ecstatic."