Major Thoroughfare Plan

An aerial view overhead of the Herff Road and Highway 46 intersection.

Purpose of the MTP

The Major Thoroughfare Plan (MTP) is a formal planning document to provide for an efficient and appropriate thoroughfare system if an undeveloped piece of land is proposed for development. Cities and counites across the state utilize this tool, including Kendall County, Kerrville, Marble Falls, and New Braunfels.

State law allows cities to create these plans per Local Government Code, Title 7, Chapter 213. The City of Boerne created its first MTP in 1974 and has been updated several times since then. The plan, which works in conjunction with the City’s Future Land Use Plan, helps provide alternatives for future connectivity between existing roadways and recommends and preserves right-of-way widths. As for those who do not utilize a vehicle to get around, the plan gives opportunities for bicycles and pedestrians to share the right-of-way.

The intended use of the Thoroughfare Plan is to provide for future connectivity if development occurs. On the map, potential future roadways and trails are shown as dashed lines. These are intended to provide the ultimate function of roadways as arterials or collectors in the City's transportation network. Final alignments may differ, but the connections are intended to remain between roadway or trail facilities.

What the MTP Does Not Do

A Major Thoroughfare Plan does not define the final alignment of roadways, it does not provide any environmental studies of the alignments, it does not provide final construction documents for any roadways, nor does it define timing or priority of roadways. Most importantly for residents to know, it is not a planning tool for TxDOT and it does not plan for the building of highways – that is a function of TxDOT. The thoroughfare plan focuses on connectivity and mobility at the local level.

Additional Background

It is important to note that many of the lines from the 1974 MTP have not become roads because the land was not developed. That will continue to be the case if current property owners maintain their ownership and uses as they currently have, in many cases, for generations.

But as we have seen in recent year years, several large, multi-generational ranches near Boerne have been sold. Those new owners have the ability to develop their properties because Texas is a property rights state. The City has some ability to manage the overall development and its infrastructure, such as roads and sidewalks, to a degree that fits the overall plan laid out in the MTP.

Because the City has the MTP in place, when a property has changed owners or uses, the City of Boerne has been able to require the developers to either set aside right-of-way or build roads and sidewalks that are part of the overall thoroughfare plan. This has occurred for 12 different projects. Those public roads and sidewalks were paid for by the developer and not taxpayers. Only one road first laid out on the 1974 MTP has ever been built with public funds and that was the Herff Road extension, which was approved by Kendall County voters in 2011.

The updated Major Thoroughfare Plan will give the City of Boerne the tools needed to help us manage the future growth of our community and maintain the Boerne character we all love while protecting current residents and taxpayers from having to pay for new roads and sidewalks.

Updates to the MTP

Boerne City Council unanimously approved an update to the Major Thoroughfare Plan at its April 11, 2023, meeting. This update clarified what was adopted in 2019 by incorporating additional environmental features, the Kendall County Boerne Fair Oaks Transportation Committee recommendations, and the Kendall County Thoroughfare Plan.

The update also trimmed the alignment at the City’s extra-territorial jurisdiction, made alignments along common property lines, and increased sidewalk width as requested by residents in our Master Plans and the 2023 Citizen Survey.

Click here to see the updated Major Thoroughfare Plan.

Public Meetings

The City hosted several public meetings on both the Mobility Master Plan and the proposed update to the Major Thoroughfare Plan. Below is a list of meetings: