Current situation
Saddletree Pass opened Oct. 11, allowing drivers to access Bar W Elementary from the campus’s north side. The new street connects to Kauffman Loop, which intersects with Ronald Reagan Boulevard at a traffic light.
Previously, drivers had to access the school from intersections without traffic lights at Ronald Reagan Boulevard and Stamp Iron Avenue or Bar W Ranch Boulevard. A new traffic light is currently under design for the intersection of Bar W Ranch and Ronald Reagan Boulevard.
The district is asking drivers to take Saddletree Pass to access Bar W Elementary as a portion of Stamp Iron Avenue was closed as of Oct. 11 for crews to work on a median. District officials said Williamson County is working to reopen the street as fast as possible, and sidewalks are open to pedestrians in the meantime.
Crews are also working to extend Stamp Iron Avenue to connect to Bar W Ranch Boulevard, LHISD Superintendent Steven Snell said. He said Bar W Ranch Boulevard will eventually be extended to Larkspur Park Boulevard.
The impact
The new Saddletree Pass access road and future traffic light at Bar W Ranch Boulevard may ease the anxieties of some community members. LHISD parent Natalie McKinnon said she was concerned about only having one street to access the campus and not having a traffic light to turn onto Ronald Reagan.
“It’s a very, very dangerous situation,” McKinnon said at an Aug. 21 board of trustees meeting. “I am not the only parent concerned about this traffic issue.”
What they’re saying
“All the roads will be finished sooner rather than later. The traffic will flow nicely. There'll be lots of great sidewalks too for our bike riders and our walkers,” Snell said in an interview with Community Impact. “No matter what happens all day long, we want kids to arrive safely and go home safely, so we want the traffic patterns and the roads and the intersections to be as safe as possible as well.”
In case you missed it
The district opened its sixth elementary school, Bar W Elementary, in August in the Bar W Ranch neighborhood in Leander. The campus opened its doors to around 655 students on the first day of the 2023-24 school year, with the capacity to serve 800.
