Transportation
Bee Cave City Council approves final vision for local alternative to Hwy. 71
Western school exit wait times Traffic delays could reach nearly 10 minutes by 2045 if current conditions persist.
2045 traffic solution
Delay
Existing two-lane roadway
9.86 minutes
Several changes to Bee Cave’s Thoroughfare Plan were approved at the March 24 City Council meeting, marking updates to the city’s future transportation goals in the area. Of the approved changes, the most notable is the final alignment of a Southwest Collector road that connects to Hamilton Pool Road, intended to provide an alternative path to Hwy. 71. Current traffic on Hwy. 71 and Hamilton Pool Road exceed capacity, and Bee Cave Parkway is approaching capacity, city documents show. A Southwest Collector is intended to address mobility and safety in the area. “We know traffic is already congested, and we expect that it’s going to continue to grow,” said Mallory Scates, transportation engineer with
Freese and Nichols, a firm assisting the city. Four alternatives were initially proposed in October for the Southwest Collector, but Option 3 was approved at the meeting. Option 3 aligns the Southwest Collector to meet at the Bee Cave Elementary School driveway and includes one signalized intersection, rather than two nearby intersections. Three scenarios were examined for traffic queuing at the second proposed driveway for Bee Cave Elementary. The study found that by 2045, a signalized, four-lane roadway resulted in a traffic delay of 52.7 seconds, compared to nearly five minutes for a signalized two-lane road and almost 10 minutes for the existing roadway configuration.
Two-lane roadway with signal
4.94 minutes
Four-lane roadway with signal
52.7 seconds
Approved Southwest Collector
BEE CAVE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
71
HAMILTON POOL RD.
GREAT DIVIDE DR.
N
SOURCE: CITY OF BEE CAVE/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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