West Lake Hills City Council approved the expansion of its wastewater system along Westlake Drive, Hull Circle and Hidden Cove at its April 9 meeting. The work, estimated to cost more than $700,000, began the week of April 14 and is expected to be completed in the fall.
The first phase began on Hull Circle, and will move to Hidden Cove and finish on Westlake Drive as to minimize the work done on the roadway during school days.
"There may be a short time [we are working on Westlake Drive] during school, but most of the work will be after the school [year] ends," West Lake Hills Mayor Dave Claunch told council.
Construction on the roadways will close one lane as work takes place between 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The crews are expected to complete roughly 100 feet per day of the 5,200 linear feet and will put a temporary patch on the completed work at the end of each day.
When the project is completed the three road segments will be resurfaced with a more permanent patch, which could lead to delays in additional planned roadwork along a section of Westlake Drive, Claunch said.
The city has also been looking for ways to improve traction and slow down traffic on a curved segment of Westlake Drive on the north edge of town, and may wait until June or perhaps October before beginning any road improvements on the section, Claunch said.
"I think we need to be looking at short-term solutions with a long-term solution put into the budget," Councilman David Moore said.
The city added signage at the curve to warn drivers of the sharp turn at the end of April and is discussing numerous ways to increase traction on the stretch of roadway, including purchasing right of way to realign the road.
Baker-Aicklen & Associates Inc., the civil engineering firm for the city, estimates the city would need to purchase one major and seven minor sections of right of way to realign the road at a cost of $270,000.
"After some of our discussions about purchasing rights of way [along Bee Caves Road], I don't think that number is very accurate," Moore said.
Mayor Pro Tem Stan Graham also believes the cost would be much higher than the estimate and would require budgeting and planning.
Senior Project Engineer Chris Tschirhart said the firm also looked at resurfacing the section of road with either a permeable friction course or high friction surface.
"I can't tell you that these surfaces will reduce the number of accidents on the road," he said. "What I can say is if we do these treatments we would expect fewer crashes. We can't quantify that, but after reviewing crash reports we believe [the treatments] would be both effective and cost-effective for reducing crashes."
Councilman Mike Dewey said he lost faith in Baker-Aicklen at the April 9 meeting based on their initial proposal and began seeking other options to present at the April 23 meeting.
"At the [April 9 meeting] I expressed some concern about the advice given to council about the project," he said. "I took it upon myself to do some research with regard to how all this works."
Dewey contacted Cindy Estakhri, a Texas A&M Transportation Instute research engineer, about the issues on Westlake Drive.
Estakhri and TTI will present a proposal on potential improvements to the roadway at the May 14 meeting.
Council will then decide whether to implement the improvements when the wastewater line extension along Westlake Drive is complete or budget money for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
