Highland Horizon community on 620???????? (Austin, Round Rock: best city, 2015, place to live)

[pbnj07]

Just want to say how much we love the new O'Connor extension!

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by pbnj07

Just want to say how much we love the new O'Connor extension!

It'll be interesting to see the effect it has once the construction around there is finished(in 2020 ).

That traffic on 620 headed toward IH-35 at rush hour!!! Glad I was going the other way!!!(Still bad, however).

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

It'll be interesting to see the effect it has once the construction around there is finished(in 2020 ).

That traffic on 620 headed toward IH-35 at rush hour!!! Glad I was going the other way!!!(Still bad, however).

Maybe the rush hour train was crossing 620?

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

Maybe the rush hour train was crossing 620?

Not sure what was up; but every intersection had traffic backed up nearly to the next(previous) light

[austinizer]

The O'Connor extension has become my new daily route since its opening. One aspect I still can't get used to is the seemingly long traffic signal phasing on the O'Connor/SH45 bridge (compared to, e.g. 620/SH45). At the time the I pass through the intersection, sometimes minutes go by with only 1-2 cars passing through the intersection, while cars are waiting at O'Connor. Does it seem more efficient during rush hour? Or even worse? (Should someone contact the county or TxDOT to ask if it works as intended?)

Regarding the 620 widening project under construction, I find it interesting that they are planning to stripe it as 2 lanes each way with wide shoulders (basically same capacity as before, but safer), but my understanding is that it is wide enough to stripe it 3 lanes each direction in the future. I wonder how long it will take before the wide shoulder will become a third lane.

[FerreroRocher]

Originally Posted by austinizer

Sorry to join this discussion a few months late, but here are a couple of additional facts about Highland Horizon that might be of interest.

- Regarding the Austin vs. Round Rock location, postal addresses are Austin, TX 78717 up to the ZIP code boundary which is Great Oaks. Addresses north of Great Oaks are Round Rock, and south of Great Oaks are Austin. If and when the portion of HH north of Great Oaks will be developed (apartments? retail?), I believe they will have a Round Rock address.

- HH is in unincorporated Williamson County within Round Rock ETJ. Much of the surrounding land is actually within Austin ETJ and is part of a large portion of ranch land owned by the Robinson family that streches to McNeil Rd in the east and south, and Parmer lane in the west. Apparently, the Robinson family is not in a hurry to develop it. The Robinson ranch land was designated as a planned unit development (PUD) by the City of Austin several years ago and it was estimated to take about 30 years to develop it. I've looked at some preliminary development plans and it includes a lot of green belt/park space next to the HH area in the Lake Creek and Rattan Creek flood zones.

- The O'Connor extension to SH45 is almost complete but it will take until the end of 2013 before the connection to SH45 (bridge and ramps) is completed. The Great Oaks extension to O'Connor has not yet started. The entrance streets to HH from Great Oaks suffer from limited visibility; perhaps this will require four-way stops in the future once Great Oaks is extended.

- The neighborhood is within the deregulated electricity zone served by Oncor Energy (poles & wires company). The actual electricity is purchased from a choice of retail electric providers.

Info from a couple of years ago but very pertinent for anyone looking at the HH Phase3 community. This poster was right, and now HH Phase3 has a 78681 RR address according to the post office. This was decided just a few days ago. I know for a fact because we are building there and I was so happy to have a CoA address but now it is a RR address. It remains and unincorporated area, though.

[rstzATX]

Originally Posted by FerreroRocher

Info from a couple of years ago but very pertinent for anyone looking at the HH Phase3 community. This poster was right, and now HH Phase3 has a 78681 RR address according to the post office. This was decided just a few days ago. I know for a fact because we are building there and I was so happy to have a CoA address but now it is a RR address. It remains and unincorporated area, though.

It is unincorporated, and all patrolled by Williamson County Sheriff's Office. However, HH is all RR ETJ, which is all area the city of round rock has authority to annex in the city limits. RR will not annex the area due to the debt load from the MUD bonds...it will remain in the unincorporated area for several years to come.

All of Brushy Creek MUD is RR ETJ, with the exception of the road 620, which is Austin's ETJ. Several years ago, the community voted to be in RR ETJ and NOT Austin's ETJ...but RR wanted nothing to do with 620 and they said Austin can keep it in their ETJ. RR 620 boundary ends at Wyoming Springs Dr intersection.

Wilco Sheriff's patrol ALL of the ETJ areas, and all of 620 to 45 up to Austin city limits down near Palmer LN/620.

Here you can look at RR's city limit boundaries and ETJ boundaries. Click on "layers" at the top and select boundaries icon. http://maps.roundrocktexas.gov/cityview/

[10scoachrick]

Well, now...as it seems Great Oaks is more or less the dividing line between Austin 78717 addresses and your new Phase III is on the Round Rock 78681 side of the line, it seems a bit odd but easily understandable that Phase III carries a Round Rock zip code. Really has nothing to do with anything except mail and parcel deliveries. Something truly outstanding might happen in Round Rock and folks would be fighting tooth and nail to get a Round Rock address. As Austin gets less and less 'weird', I reckon having that designation won't be so attractive. Then, the folks in Phase I and II might be screaming to have their address show "Round Rock"(since it's in the RR ETJ).

Ain't life interesting?

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by rstzATX

Wilco Sheriff's patrol ALL of the ETJ areas, and all of 620 to 45 up to Austin city limits down near Palmer LN/620.

I see what you did there

[riaelise]

Highland horizon is round rock as far as most people are concerned. Very few think of it as Austin. To this day I don't understand what the big deal is when it comes to zip codes.