"Thirteen families got together and decided we'd put up the money and our know how to build us a light line and telephone line out here."
Benton Beard was describing 1933. His father, B. B. "Pop" Beard, worked for the Austin Telephone Company. He visited 13 neighbors, collected $100 from each, and used that $1,300 to bring electricity to the Eanes area. The families bought 100 used poles from a railway being torn up between Cleburne and Fort Worth for $4.00 apiece, delivered. The City of Austin supplied scrap wire that the families straightened and soldered together themselves. "We got lines all the way up Bee Cave Road to the Eanes School," Beard remembered. They had $100 left over and spent it on a community picnic with barbecue and beer. Ellen Balthazar of the Eanes History Center retells the story in the City of West Lake Hills October 2026 newsletter.
Ninety-three years later, West Lake Hills is again putting its own money into Bee Cave Road infrastructure it doesn't own. This time the equipment is cameras and software for the traffic signals, and the state will install it.
A road that already got its widening
Most people who drive Bee Cave Road every day remember the last big fix, and some of them remember the construction too.
TxDOT says the road was built in 1956. On its RM 2244 project page, the agency put average daily traffic at around 25,000 vehicles and expected it to reach 33,400 within ten years. The fix it chose was to turn a four-lane road into a five-lane one between Redbud Trail and Walsh Tarlton Lane. That meant a center turn lane, plus shoulders and sidewalks along those three miles. Aaron Concrete Contractors built it for about $29 million.
The work took longer than planned. TxDOT first expected to finish in summer 2019. Community Impact reported that private utility relocations pushed the start to late 2016, and TxDOT's release put the finish at November 2019. The ribbon cutting was held at Independent Bank, 101 Westlake Drive.
Year | What happened on Bee Cave Road | Who paid |
|---|---|---|
1933 | Power and phone lines strung up to the Eanes School | 13 families, $100 each |
1956 | The road itself built | State |
2016–2019 | Center turn lane, shoulders, sidewalks from Redbud Trail to Walsh Tarlton Lane | TxDOT, about $29 million |
2026 | AI detection planned for nine signals along the corridor | City of West Lake Hills, $360,000 budgeted |
The 2019 project gave the road a center turn lane, shoulders and sidewalks. The 2026 work changes how the signals at the intersections detect traffic and set their timing.
Nine signals the city doesn't own
On April 22, the West Lake Hills City Council moved forward with funding for nine AI traffic detection systems along the Bee Cave Road corridor. The signals belong to TxDOT's Austin District, not the city. Community Impact noted that the city's 2025 strategic plan includes an initiative to take on joint mobility and infrastructure projects, and that the city and TxDOT had been working together on traffic flow along the corridor.
The cost is $360,000, mostly covered by $300,000 in tax revenue proceeds. City Administrator Trey Fletcher told Community Impact that a vendor other than NoTraffic might be used, with the same price and services. "We are still moving forward," he said.
By summer the plan had a price list. Texas Highway Products of Round Rock sent a quote dated June 23, 2026 that totals $356,500, slightly under the budget:
- Seven "Omni" detection packages at $25,500 each, for $178,500. Each includes hardware for one intersection, five years of Mobility OS access, network monitoring, connectivity and a five-year hardware warranty.
- Two 3-way packages at $21,500 each, for $43,000. Each has a control unit and three smart sensors.
- Nine optimization packages at $15,000 each, for $135,000. Each adds the NoTraffic Optimization App, a control unit and four smart sensors.
The staff report for the July 22 council meeting, prepared by Public Works, explains what that equipment does. The system uses cameras and artificial intelligence to detect vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists and other road users in real time. It then adjusts signal operations to improve traffic flow, reduce congestion, improve safety and cut unnecessary delays. Staff recommended approving the purchase, with the money coming from the FY 26-27 General Fund.
The system also produces data. According to Community Impact, the software gives access to vehicle and bicycle detection, real-time video, traffic counts and turning movements. In practice, the city will be able to see in detail how its main road is used, even though the signals themselves stay under state control.
Who installs it
The city is buying the equipment, and the state will put it up. A West Lake Hills Public Works quarterly report says TxDOT agreed to lead installation of the adaptive signal technology after the start of TxDOT's new fiscal year, which lowers the city's installation cost. For the following quarter, the same report lists "advancing coordination with TxDOT on adaptive traffic signal technology" as a goal.
The city has made smaller changes along the corridor in the meantime. Public Works crews put up "Left Only" signs at Westlake Drive and Redbud Trail and "Stop Ahead" warnings on Redbud Trail. Working with TxDOT, they also updated the "No Right on Red When Pedestrians or Bicycles Are Present" signs. Pedestrians and cyclists are among the road users the new detection system is designed to pick up.
Because TxDOT owns the signals, problems with them still go to TxDOT. In the October newsletter, Police Chief Scott Gerdes lists the numbers for reporting Bee Cave Road signal issues: (800) 558-9368 or (512) 463-8588.
The streets the city does own
The city maintains its own neighborhood streets, and it is reconsidering how it does that.
The council approved a contract of nearly $1.7 million with Alpha Paving Industries on June 24. Community Impact reported that the 2026 work included crack sealing and mill-and-overlay and began July 6.
Mayor James Vaughan's column in the October newsletter says the city is turning this year's experience into a formal policy, and he asks residents for feedback. He says he is leaning toward even less crack-seal, "the tar lines," and less striping, and that both changes need engineering approval. He calls striping especially sensitive because the city needs hard data on how useful it will be "in an autonomous vehicle future," and he asks whether robotaxis would drift into the wrong lane without stripes. Residents can send their feedback to [email protected].
Both projects point the same way. On Bee Cave Road the city is paying for signals that detect traffic, and on its own streets it wants evidence before deciding what paint the cars of the future will need.
Along the corridor this fall
The businesses on Bee Cave Road keep changing, and several had milestones this season.
- Whataburger Digital Kitchen, 3201 Bee Caves Road, Ste. 180, closed in September, according to Community Impact. The chain's first fully digital location had no seating and no drive-thru, and customers picked up online orders from exterior lockers.
- Maverick Men's Health Care, 4238 Bee Cave Road, Suite B, held its grand opening with the Westlake Chamber of Commerce on Oct. 15.
- Restore Hyper Wellness, 3276 Bee Cave Road, Ste. 118, marked an anniversary in October, and Chalk Training in Westlake marked ten years in September, per Community Impact's October business roundup.
- The school at 4613-B Bee Cave Road, formerly Guidepost Montessori, rebranded as Illuminate Montessori in September.
Around the corner on Loop 360, Postino Westlake opened Sept. 13 at 701 S. Capital of Texas Highway, Suite J-760, in the Village at Westlake. The chamber scheduled its ribbon cutting for Oct. 27.
City Hall also has a show up. "Native Birds and Sustaining Plants of West Lake Hills," from the West Lake Hills Art Committee, runs through Nov. 20, 2026. The art reception is Wednesday, Nov. 4, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
If you have questions about how changes on Bee Cave Road might affect your daily routine or your home's value, I'm glad to talk them over. Annette Patterson with Bramlett Partners has been following West Lake Hills and the Westbank for decades, and I'm always happy to help. Let's Connect.
