Bee Cave City Council awarded the bid for the Bee Cave Parkway pavement improvements project to Texas Materials Group for $1.39 million on April 28. The improvements will occur on Bee Cave Parkway between RM 620 and Hwy. 71.
The city solicited bids in February and March, receiving three bids. The lowest bidder was Texas Materials Group, while the highest was Lone Star Paving at over $1.7 million.
The overview
Bee Cave Parkway was initially constructed in 2011, making it 15 years old. Asphalt roadways typically have a 20-to-30-year lifecycle before needing a full-depth reconstruction. This process includes a mill and overlay at 10-20 years in order to preserve the pavement for the rest of its life cycle.
Milling and overlaying includes grinding up the first layer of asphalt and laying a new layer of asphalt.
“[The road is] starting to show some signs of age,” city engineer Andrew Rooke said.
The details
The pavement improvement project will include a 2-inch mill and a 2 1/4-inch overlay on the road along with new striping and new signage.
The new overlay is expected to prevent water infiltration onto the roadway, providing additional life to the road.
New striping and signage will be in place to improve traffic safety along the corridor.
Along with these improvements, the project will also include adding a metal beam guard fence at the intersection of the shared driveway of The Auberge and the Montessori School where some cars have left the roadway in the past.
The $1.39 million was budgeted in Bee Cave’s Road Maintenance Fund for 2026.
The issue
Texas Materials Group was required to provide supplemental qualification information to the city within five days of the bid opening.
The company provided an almost complete review of the qualifications within the requested time frame; however, the requirement to list all claims and litigation that have been active over the past five years was missing.
Texas Materials Group provided a response stating that it would be “overly burdensome” to provide a list of claims over a five-year period.
“This bothers me a lot,” council member Andrea Willott said. “This just doesn’t sound right to me.”
Representative of Bennett Paving Inc. Billy Bennett, the second lowest bidder for the project, told council it was “unfair” that Texas Materials Group did not have to provide the required information in the allotted time frame.
“I think that if this was reversed and I said, ‘You know what, it’s too much. I’m not going to get it [the qualification information] for you,’ I think my bid would be thrown out,” Bennett said. “It just seems like there’s a lot more leniency now, after the bid process, and I just want to make sure that everything is fair.”
After entering an executive session, council members agreed to award the bid to Texas Materials group.
“This wasn’t, in my opinion, the best process, but it comes down to money,” Willott said.
What’s next
Construction is expected to take five to six weeks to complete and will occur during school summer break.
