Bee Cave Moves to Widen the Highway 71 and Hamilton Pool Road Intersection With TxDOT
Bee Cave backed a funding agreement with TxDOT to add turn lanes, new signals and pedestrian facilities at Highway 71, Hamilton Pool Road and Bee Cave Parkway.
Anyone who has sat at the light where Highway 71 meets Hamilton Pool Road and Bee Cave Parkway knows the problem. Bee Cave's City Council has taken a step toward fixing it, with the state's help.
The council approved a resolution supporting an advance funding agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation for improvements at the intersection, Community Impact reported. The resolution, numbered 2026-46 and dated Oct. 27, authorizes the city manager to negotiate the agreement's terms with TxDOT.
The deal is not final yet. According to the report, TxDOT requires the resolution of support before it will finalize the agreement, and there is no projected timeline for the work.
Wider, not "innovative"
In January 2024, the council backed design work on an "innovative intersection," such as a diverging diamond. Since then, City Manager Julie Oakley said, the city and TxDOT found that widening the existing intersection would be faster and more workable for pedestrians.
The proposed improvements include:
A second left-turn lane on westbound Highway 71, plus an acceleration lane for right turns onto southbound Bee Cave Parkway
A second right-turn lane from southbound Bee Cave Parkway onto westbound Highway 71
A second right-turn lane from northbound Hamilton Pool Road onto eastbound Highway 71
An acceleration lane on southbound Hamilton Pool Road for drivers turning right from eastbound Highway 71
New traffic signals
Pedestrian facilities along all three roads
Possible ditch grading along Highway 71 and storm sewer improvements along Bee Cave Parkway
Bee Cave Central Park in June 2022. Photo: Larry D. Moore / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
Who pays
The report puts the city's share at about $2.8 million and the state's at nearly $3.7 million. Bee Cave would pay for the Bee Cave Parkway work, and TxDOT would pay for the Hamilton Pool Road and Highway 71 work. By our math, that is roughly $6.5 million in all. That total is our arithmetic, not a city figure.
The resolution itself is blunt about why. It says the city "is currently suffering from traffic congestion problems which have grown steadily over the past several years." It also says residents have expressed a "clearly enunciated local preference" that congestion be relieved.
The resolution notes that several major roads in Bee Cave are state highways that the city has limited authority to change. Under its terms, the city would design the project at its own expense to speed up construction, and it asks TxDOT to fund construction once the design is complete. The resolution and the report's cost split are not laid out side by side, so the final agreement will settle exactly who pays for what.
Oakley said she wants local engineers to have a hand in the design.
"I have a lot of respect for TxDOT and their engineers, but I'd really like for the local engineers to be able to really roll their sleeves up and design these intersections in their communities," she said.
Our view
This is the kind of local government that earns trust. The council is answering residents' calls for relief, and it chose a plainer design that the city says will be faster. It also wants local people to have a hand in solving a local problem.
Residents should still hold the city to it. There is no timeline yet, and a lane on paper does not move a single car. The next real milestone is the signed agreement with TxDOT, and taxpayers deserve to know when that happens and what the city's final share turns out to be.
Bee Cave is not the only Texas town trying to keep roads ahead of growth. See how Willis is building homes while its roads wait and why Anna is asking voters for $60 million in street bonds.
