Bee Cave City staff have a conceptual plan that could connect motorists from Bee Caves Road to Hamilton Pool Road without using Hwy. 71. Understanding whether the concept is practical and possible will require an engineering study. Bee Cave City Council members voted unanimously Nov. 9 to seek such a feasibility study.
City Manager Clint Garza and Assistant City Manager Lindsey Oskoui said they estimated that they would return to council Jan. 18 with a recommendation of who best to conduct the study, which will evaluate a plan to build what staff documents term as a collector roadway composed of four segments south of Hwy. 71.
“I am in favor of doing this study because I want to see what the facts show me,” Bee Cave Mayor Kara King said.
The council vote came after members heard from residents who said in remarks to the council that they were concerned about the impact the overall plan for the road would have on residents of the Homestead, a neighborhood just south of the proposed roadway's corridor. A common theme from public comments was that the road would become a bypass to avoid traffic lights on Hwy. 71 rather than serve as a connection to local businesses for residents in the immediate area.
“I would want to know what can be done to ensure that doesn't happen,” King said. “What can we do to ensure that it's a way for local, regional traffic.”
As currently envisioned by staff, an alternative route would comprise four segments. The first segment would run east from Hamilton Pool to an area near Twin Acres Road. A second segment as conceived by staff would run along the northern edge of city-owned property known as the 45-acre Brown Property and connect to Great Divide Drive.
Moving eastward, Segments 3 and 4 would be part of existing or planned commercial and residential developments. The third segment would incorporate roadways of the Village of Spanish Oaks, which is currently under construction. The fourth segment would comprise the existing public road of the Shops at the Galleria.
The traffic study will ask engineers to consider multiple scenarios, assuming the city chooses to build or not build the roadway’s different segments in varying arrangements. One scenario in the study will be the impact on Hwy. 71 traffic if the city chooses to build nothing, according to comments Oskoui made to council.
Included in the study will be proposals to build connection points from the proposed roadway to Hwy. 71 at Twin Acres Road and near the Lake Travis Youth Association Field of Dreams. A third connection to Hwy. 71 is already part of a comprehensive plan for the privately funded Village at Spanish Oaks.
While construction of the Village of Spanish Oaks is underway, roadways in that development will not be complete until summer or fall 2022, Oskoui told council.
