Travelers along RR 620—from US 183 to Hwy. 71—may one day get a break from the traffic plaguing the western Travis County corridor.

Following the spring 2015 start of its RR 620 Feasibility Study, Texas Department of Transportation officials released preliminary study results Jan. 1 and various long-term and mid-term roadway improvement proposals on Jan. 19.

The projects presented address RR 620 transportation issues along an 18.8-mile stretch of the road and include expanding portions of the road to six lanes, concrete medians and an elevated roadway, said Bruce Byron, TxDOT Austin District project manager for the Loop 360/RR 620 Corridor Improvement Studies.

Study results

The Jan. 1 release of the feasibility study’s preliminary results state that RR 620 is over capacity in terms of daily traffic north of Bee Cave Parkway to the northern edge of Lakeway’s city limits.

“The bottom line is you have probably twice the traffic on the [RR 620] roadway than it was designed to handle,” Byron said.

The study incorporated input from neighborhoods, businesses, property owners, commuters, cyclists and pedestrians who use RR 620. Eight stakeholder meetings were also held in Lakeway and Bee Cave as part of the project to assist TxDOT to formulate improvements that will help congestion and safety on the road.

Out of 3,000 respondents, most listed Bullick Hollow Road at RR 620 as the top intersection having significant mobility issues, followed by Anderson Mill Road at RR 620, with Lohmans Crossing Road at RR 620 the third-worst corridor intersection in terms of congestion.

Most RR 620 respondents said they use the road to run daily errands or access other roadways, and are impacted by its longer travel times as well as the greater wait time to enter or exit their communities, the study stated. Ranking the order of the most significant problems encountered along RR 620, respondents rated “overall traffic congestion” along the corridor first, with “traffic backups at specific intersections on the roadway” as second, followed by “congestion during accidents,” the report stated.

Respondents ranked “intersection improvements” as their top choice to address RR 620 traffic issues, with “eliminat[ing] traffic signals by adding over- and underpasses” as a second choice and “add[ing] more lanes to RR 620” as the third choice.

Crash data

Out of the 3,000 responses to the RR 620 study survey to date, about 19 percent of respondents said they have been in a crash on RR 620, Byron said.

From January 2010 to March 2015, 747 crashes have been documented in the RR 620 corridor, from the northern Lakeway city limits to Hwy. 71, the survey states. Many of these accidents occurred at driveways and other locations as opposed to signalized intersections, it states.

Currently, RR 620 has a center left-turn lane along most of its pathway. The study states, according to the Transportation Research Board, that raised medians “are associated with fewer crashes [than center turn lanes] on roads that carry more than 20,000 vehicles per day.”

Many stretches of RR 620 carry twice that amount of traffic, the report stated.

Bee Cave, Lakeway proposal

The TxDOT proposal for RR 620 improvements from the Colorado River to Hwy. 71 include:

• adding a raised concrete median with periodic turn lanes;
• maintaining a 4-lane roadway from the Colorado River to Lakeway Boulevard;
• adding a lane in each direction from Lakeway Boulevard to Hwy. 71 for a total of six lanes; and
• improving major intersections throughout the Lakeway/Bee Cave portion of the corridor.

The feasibility study report showed the level of service, or the functionality of the intersections along RR 620 in Lakeway and Bee Cave, would generally increase from what was projected by 2035 if the proposed improvements were built. The RR 620 proposal for Lakeway and Bee Cave is estimated to cost nearly $73 million without including any right of way purchases or drainage improvements in the area, Byron said.

Four Points to US 183 proposal

 The TxDOT proposal for RR 620 improvements from the Colorado River/Four Points to US 183 include:

• adding a raised concrete median from the Colorado River bridge to RR 2222 with periodic turn lanes;
• maintaining a four-lane roadway from the Colorado River to Quinlan Park Road;
• adding a lane in each direction from Quinlan Park to US 183 for a total of six lanes; and
• adding an elevated roadway incorporating four additional lanes above the reconfigured six-lane section of RR 620 from RR 2222 to US 183. 

TxDOT cannot determine the amount of road lanes it can construct on the ground—on RR 620 from RR 2222 to Hwy. 183—or the extent, if any, of the elevated roadway until it conducts an environmental study to define the amount of right of way it can feasably acquire, Byron said. No decision has been made as to whether the elevated roadway would be tolled, he said. 

What’s next

A draft report of the complete results of the study is slated to be released April 1, Byron said.

Although no funding exists to build any of the listed proposed improvements, funding is expected to implement an environmental study for the Lakeway and Bee Cave section, he said.

Lakeway and Bee Cave city council members unanimously approved resolutions Jan. 19 and Jan. 26, respectively, supporting TxDOT’s design and construction plans for the RR 620 improvements in both cities.

Lakeway Mayor Joe Bain said the city’s contribution to the proposed project may total $5 million and stem from a future bond election.

Lakeway and Bee Cave’s financial contributions to the proposed project may help facilitate the funding of its construction, Byron said.