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US-183 and RR-620
Intersection US-183 and RR-620 in North Austin, TX As already mentioned in my last entry, “First Impressions”, Texas has some special roads named Farm-to-Market or Ranch-to-Market, many of these roads are signed just "Farm Road" or "Ranch Road" though. You may look this up in
Wiki and find out more about it. There is also a good description and all route numbers as well at
Texas Highway Routes, an unofficial site for information about Texas Highways.
So today I am driving a little bit around (as almost every day) and I show you a few impressions. I take you West of US-183 to Ranch-to-Market road 620, or R.M.620 for short. It begins (or ends???) in Round Rock and crosses Austin's North at US-183.
Click on picture for full image!
This part and the intersection is currently under great improvement. There will be direct access with an overpass to and from US-183 and it looks like R.M. 620 will become a freeway Eastbound toward Round Rock.
But as I said we are going west.
First we have a rather rural area but still with shopping spaces or apartment parks in between.
One special thing when you take R.M. 620 is the Mansfield Dam. There is no public road over the dam but a bridge in front of the dam and you can have a brief look to this piece of engineering.
MANSFIELD DAM
JOSEPH JEFFORSON MANSFIELD
MEMBER OF CONGRESS
PUBLIC SERVANT - STATESMAN
PATRIOT
IN GRATEFUL APPRECIATION OF MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS OF USEFUL AND UNSELFISH SERVICE TO HIS COMMUNITY, STATE AND NATION, THIS MAGNIFICENT STRUCTURE, SYMBOLIC OF HIS MANY GOOD WORKS, WHICH ASSURES PROSPERITY AND PROTECTION FOR THE PEOPLE TO WHOSE INTERESTS AND WELFARE HIS LIFE HAS BEEN DEVOTED, IS NAMED AND DEDICATED.
PRESENTED AS A TESTIMONIAL OF AFFECTION AND ESTEEM BY THE PEOPLE OT THE NINTH CONGRESSIONAL DESTICT OF TEXAS.
After the dam the area changes from rural to urban with a town named Lakeway which I define as very prosperous. Basically this is a place I like to live but I'm afraid some of this houses are rather expensive and owned by people who probably don't even live in Austin all year round. To commute to downtown Austin will be also a little time consuming. When you hit rush hour it'll take you more than one hour for one way.
You also get a feeling here why this area is called Hill Country. The streets are build into the landscape sometimes around the hills but over a knoll they run just straight over it. After about 10 miles R.M. 620 ends at Texas State Highway 71 in a small town named Bee Cave. A Texas State Highway is a major routes but not on the U. S. Highway system. And obviously also not a FM or RM route.
Finally you never know what route you are on unless you see the sign and have a map with you. At least you have the sun almost all day round and you know in which direction you are driving. And of course you can always ask where you are and where to go. Texans are helpful like all Americans!
And sometimes there's even a biker you can ask.
To be continued ...!
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