SAN MARCOS, TX — Hays County travelers once again have a two-lane bridge over the Blanco River on Post Road between Kyle and San Marcos, Texas, following a ribbon-cutting and ceremonial tree-planting. The bridge, washed away during the 2015 Memorial Weekend flood, is the only alternative route to I-35 between Kyle and San Marcos and serves thousands of citizens as well as first responders. 

Following an invocation by San Marcos Community Church Pastor John McComb – who noted that this was his first bridge invocation – the Sons of the American Revolution, in full period dress, posted the colors. State Representative Jason Isaac expressed his thanks to TxDOT for its role in helping Hays County recover and finishing the bridge ahead of schedule after he led the crowd in the pledges to the flags. 

Precinct 4 Commissioner Ray Whisenant told the crowd that as a life-long resident of Hays County, he had never seen water in the Blanco River as high as what torrential rains caused that Memorial Weekend and that work continues on other roads and low-water-crossings damaged by both that flood and another disastrous flood that occurred in October 2015. 

The $900,000 replacement bridge was paid for through TxDOT’s off-system bridge program and replaces the 1950s-era previous bridge with one that meets today’s bridge standards. Hays County contributed its 10- percent share of the funding through in-kind contributions to repair other damaged road and low-water crossings. An innovative, temporary one-lane bridge made of flat rail cars, installed soon after the flood, was removed in July 2017 to begin work on the permanent bridge.