According to Texas Department of Transportation records, a lone stretch of West Hwy. 71—between RR 620 and US 281—was the site of 140 crashes from Dec. 1, 2015 to Dec. 8, 2016. “The wrecks are going to happen—every year it gets worse and worse,” said Spicewood resident Linda Wall, who was situated a few cars behind the Nov. 28 crash that killed a Lake Travis High School student and his mother. The crashes on this roadway segment over the past year included two crashes with fatalities, nine crashes with incapacitating injuries, 14 crashes with non-incapacitating injuries and 18 crashes with possible injuries, TxDOT records state. One particular section of this expanse concerns Wall, who is leading the charge to petition TxDOT for changes to make the roadway safer from RR 2322 in Briarcliff to US 281. “I’m a strong advocate for any improvements to [West] Hwy. 71, and I would be happy to be a part of delivering that petition to TxDOT,” Burnet County Judge James Oakley said. “The problem is there are [transportation] needs all over this state.” Although a section of West Hwy. 71 that spans through the cities of Bee Cave and Lakeway includes a center turn lane on the four-lane road, the remaining sections of West Hwy. 71 in the unincorporated areas of Spicewood—Blanco and Burnet counties—lack such a turn lane. “I understand [TxDOT] has to prioritize [its projects] but the turn lane ends pretty much at [RR] 2322,” Wall said. “This place is exploding [with growth]. If we don’t start looking at it now, tragedies are going to happen every day.” Following the Nov. 28 incident, she started a petition requesting TxDOT propose changes on West Hwy. 71, from RR 2322 to US 281, including adding a center left turn lane, placing adequate warning signs on the curvy, hilly highway and, in the interim, converting the road’s shoulder into a right turn lane, Wall said. With prior citizen efforts, TxDOT has made changes to the road, but Wall said not enough has been done to make the western portion of the highway safer. “Now we’re building on the momentum those other groups have made,” she said. “If we can gather those people who [live] along the 26-mile portion of the [West Hwy. 71] corridor, then we can build on the successes of these prior [efforts].”