City Grill

Michelle Dippel
Central and South Texas Office Leader and Vice President
HNTB Corp.

In Austin, one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities, “congestion remains a concern, and historically, there have been challenges with funding to fully address the needs that exist to improve the region’s transportation infrastructure,” Dippel says.

Both the city of Austin and surrounding counties are making this a priority. “Hays and Williamson counties have historically had robust road bond programs, and Travis County recently passed a road bond program of their own,” Dippel says. “At the state level, TxDOT also has aggressive plans to increase roadway capacity and reduce congestion, due in part to funding provided by dollars from Proposition 1, which allows for the completion of a higher number of projects than in past years.

“However, we must continue to identify and discuss all options that will provide the additional funding needed to improve mobility across our region,” she says.

Firms across the nation are also noticing the region’s strong market and opening satellite offices in Texas, she adds.