GILLESPIE COUNTY, Texas -- For almost four years Backwoods BBQ has served the Hill Country.

  • TxDOT has elaborate plan to reduce traffic congestion in Hill Country 
  • Part of plan would displace Fredericksburg homes and businesses 
  • TxDOT considers plan least disruptive of those considered

“When you drive up you’re gonna see all the stacked mesquite wood and you’re gonna see smoke, you’re gonna smell it,” says owner Aaron Jabier Rodriguez.

But TxDOTs traffic relief route, which is intended to re-route traffic from Fredericksburg’s Main Street, could put businesses in a pit. The relief route would stretch from the southeastern end of of town around to the other end.

RELATED: Hill Country Traffic Congestion Prompts TxDOT US 290 Relief Route Proposal

“What would end up being the east boundary of that would be right at our parking lot - right at the edge of our parking lot,” says Rodriguez.

Parts of the relief route would include frontage roads on both sides of the road, which would mean 400 feet of land use. Residents and business owners who stand to be affected believe moving the relief route further away from town should be considered while conceding the problem would then become someone else’s.

“Sooner or later somebody is gonna be affected. I mean, there are several land owners - and so I don’t mean to diminish the other landowners' rights,” says Rodriguez.

Five routes in total were considered but TxDOT has identified one as the so-called “technically preferred option,” meaning officials believe it will likely have one of the least disruptive impacts. TxDOT says it’s ready to work with affected property owners.

“The problem is it’s not like moving from one apartment to the other or moving from one car to the other—this took a year and a half in planning, three and a half years to build it up to this point,” says Rodriguez.

Some residents worry the Hill Country could lose its fingerprint in the process.

“This kind of road feels... like someone bringing MoPac to Fredericksburg,” says Fredericksburg resident Gary Saucier.

Without it, though, some feel drivers would continue to overburden U.S. 290 or Main Street. Still, the nature of the route along with its limited in and out points makes others feel like the study missed the mark.

“A lot of people are concerned because this style project looks at a TxDOT 70 mph limited access road,” says Saucier.

As noble as the route is intended to be, residents say other solutions are possible which don’t involve development of a route outside of Fredericksburg.

“We think the city and TxDOT together could work at restructuring or repainting downtown such that it dealt with the traffic differently,” says Saucier.

An open house is scheduled for Tuesday, January 28 at the Gillespie County Law Enforcement Center from 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. Fredericksburg city officials will unveil their own findings on potential local transportation projects that aim to address congestion in the city.