F1 To Get More Building Permits Today

Planners for the proposed Formula One race track in Southeast Travis County are a step closer to starting construction on some of the buildings at the track.

Officials met with several Travis County agencies last night, including the Transportation and Natural Resources and Sheriff's Departments and Fire Marshal’s Office, to discuss transportation and safety planning. County authorities are issuing building permits for more structures at the track today.

Anna Bowlin with the county's Transportation and Natural Resources Department says the process of holding progress report meetings with several departments at the same time is typical for a project of this size. While the Austin area has never built a race track approaching this size, she says it is common to break projects of this scale down into phases, much like large subdivisions.

Some structures that will be issued permits were previously planned for a FEMA-designated floodplain, but FEMA issued a Conditional Level of Map Revision. That cleared the way for the Circuit of the Americas to obtaining building permits for those areas.

The permits issued today will include pouring concrete for the foundations of crew buildings, the pit center, the media center and the medical center, as well as five retaining walls.