Updates to roads in Bee Cave, including potential extensions of Hamilton Pool Road, may be coming soon, with officials currently engaged in preliminary work to update the city’s thoroughfare plan.

The overview

The city’s Major Thoroughfare Plan was last updated in 2023. The plan is part of the city’s Comprehensive Plan, according to the city’s website, and it specifically addresses roadway needs.

At a City Council meeting held Oct. 14, engineers with Freese and Nichols presented 4 preliminary proposals for an upgrade to the plan, following several months of work, City Manager Julie Oakley said.

“This is a very draft [phase] document right now, we wanted to bring this to council to get feedback from council as well as members of the public and landowners,” Oakley said.



The details

No action was taken by the council in regard to the options presented on Oct. 14.

Study areas in the thoroughfare plan update include the intersection of Hamilton Pool Road, Bee Cave Parkway and Hwy. 71 as well as the Hill Country Galleria area.

“The thoroughfare plan is really serving to help try to find some alternate routes and provide some relief [for traffic] when these roadways are built out,” Mallory Scates, project manager for Freese and Nichols, said.


To address traffic growth, four updates were proposed, each involving new road segments near the intersection of Hamilton Pool Road and Hwy. 71.

The options

Option 1 would create a road segment from Hwy. 71 to Hamilton Pool Road, and a road segment from Hamilton Pool Road to Twin Acres Drive, both connecting to Hamilton Pool Road at the same point. Benefits of this option include minimizing the number of intersections along Hamilton Pool Road, according to city documents.

Option 1 minimizes the number of new intersections along Hamilton Pool Road. (Courtesy city of Bee Cave)
Option 1. (Source: city of Bee Cave)



Option 2A and 2B would create a similar road segment, but with the connection point at Hwy. 71 on the eastern side of Travis County Parks Office rather than the western side as laid out in Option 1.

Option 2A follows the eastern boundary of the Travis County Parks Office. (Courtesy city of Bee Cave)
Option 2A. (Source: city of Bee Cave)



Option 2B also shifts the proposed road segment that lies south of Hamilton Pool Road slightly east as compared to 2A.

Option 2B moves the intersection to align with an existing private driveway. (Courtesy city of Bee Cave)
Option 2B. (Source: city of Bee Cave)



Option 3 would move the Hamilton Pool Road connection point to the west of Travis County facilities, connect it to Hamilton Pool Road, and then create another road segment to Twin Acres Drive at a different point, further to the east on Hamilton Pool Road.

Option 3 proposes two new road segments and intersections. (Courtesy city of Bee Cave)
Option 3. (Source: city of Bee Cave)



This option would create two new intersections along Hamilton Pool Road as opposed to just one, as suggested in options 1 and 2.

What else?



Following preliminary work on the new update proposals, the city still needs to speak with the Texas Department of Transportation and other stakeholders regarding the updates, and officials also intend to solicit more feedback from the public, Oakley said.

Residents can comment during public meetings or e-mail or call City Hall regarding their feedback, Oakley said.