Several changes to Bee Cave’s Thoroughfare Plan were approved at the March 24 Bee Cave City Council meeting, marking updates to the city’s future transportation goals in the area.
The details
The revisions are part of the city’s Thoroughfare Plan, which outlines goals, plans and projects for future mobility improvements in the area.
The approved changes include:
Choosing a final alignment for a Southwest Collector road that connects to Hamilton Pool Road, intended to provide an alternative path to Hwy. 71Removing Shops Parkway as a primary collector since it is a private roadAdding two neighborhood collectors between Bee Cave Parkway and the Skaggs Drive extensionRealigning a connector and primary collector near the Field of Dreams Sports ComplexRealigning roads in the Village at Spanish Oaks to reflect recent development changesRemoving private connector roads from the plan, which are already required per the city’s Unified Development CodeThese plans are subject to change, pending council action.
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Diving deeper
According to city documents, current traffic on Hwy. 71 and Hamilton Pool Road exceed capacity, and Bee Cave Parkway is approaching capacity. The creation of a Southwest Collector is intended to address mobility and safety in the area to improve traffic flow.
“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 with the plan updates. “Additionally, we know that providing alternative paths does help alleviate congestion.”
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Scates referenced the decrease in traffic volume on Hamilton Pool Road after the Vail Divide extension was completed as an example of this in action, after which traffic went from 17,821 average annual daily trips in 2022 to 15,474 in 2023.
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.
Option 3 was approved by City Council, connecting Hamilton Pool Road to other local thoroughfares in the area. (Courtesy city of Bee Cave)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.
The blue line indicates the option proposed under Option 3, with a signalized intersection and four-lane roadway on Hamilton Pool Road. (Courtesy city of Bee Cave)What’s next?
The recent update is just one of other future changes to come for the city’s Our Bee Cave 2037 Comprehensive Plan, another guiding document for the city.
“So this is just an update on what we knew we needed to tackle first, but we will be doing another update to the thoroughfare plan during that process,” City Manager Julie Oakley said.