Rush Hour Traffic: Bee Cave/Sweetwater to 360 South of Pennybacker Bridge (Austin: new home, neighborhood)

[Wold Chamberlain]

My wife and I are considering moving our young family (two girls: 4 1/2 and 2 1/2) to Austin from the suburbs of Minneapolis/St. Paul. I'd take a job with one of the .coms at North Capital of Texas/360 and Westlake, just south of the Pennybacker Bridge over Lake Austin.

My question mostly relates to commute times to get to this part of town - I have read the threads below about commuting from (e.g. Lakeway, Steiner) into downtown, but I don't have to get 'all the way' in. I would commute every weekday and would go to/from the airport once or twice a month.

For context...we've always owned 'old' housing stock in the Northeast and Midwest (1927/1911/1920) but in this move I've promised my wife we could build a new home or buy substantially newer construction (e.g. 2008+). We don't want a large house (we have had 1,420/1,523/1,142 sf) so >3,000 is too much. We would fit easily into the payments for a $500,000 home, and if we can spend less, we'd save and give more.

We spent last weekend neighborhood hunting and like the Bee Cave area, and specifically the Sweetwater development. We also drove Falconhead West, but didn't learn about Rough Hollow until we left Austin. We like the hills, views, 5-miles-to-shopping, in-community waterpark/pool and LTISD schools. We currently Montessori school both our pre-Kindergarten children (have heard good things about Bluebonnet on Debba Dr in Lakeway) and would continue Montessori until they enroll in public schools.

In this last week, every morning and evening we fire up Google Maps and look at traffic from 360/Westlake to/from Sweetwater, and every night 2244/Bee Cave appears green all the way, as I'd first get onto 2244/Bee Cave west of 360. (I see that east of 360, 2244 can get jammed up.) I've read some threads here(1) that suggest that 2244 west of 360 might be full of crazy/dangerous drivers, but I have not read or seen on Google Maps that 2244 gets jammed with rush hour traffic. Is this too naive to be true? I've read and heard about West Austin traffic and the lack of secondary routes on many corridors - is it true that 2244 and/or the number of people who need to make my specific burb-to-burb commute are sparse enough that this 23-minutes-on-Sunday drive can remain reliably 30-minutes-or-less weekdays?

(1)
Lakeway Commute (April 2008)
How is the commute from Lakeway to... (February 2011)
Bee Cave (April 2012)
Bee Cave Rd./FM 2244 - Avoid if you can (May 2012)

[BevoLJ]

I live inside 360 in Westlake and avoid Bee Cave Rd (2244) west of 360 like the plague. Bee Cave inside 360 isn't that bad, but the part you would have to use from 360 to 71 is. In the morning and afternoon it is always backed up on the west side of the intersection of 360. During the summer time while still bad, it isn't close to as bad as after school starts. In it is not uncommon for Bee Cave to be backed up all the way from 360 to Barton Springs Rd, and during the summer it is backed up about half that far though sometimes still gets that bad.

Not sure why Google isn't showing it, but I can assure you it is backed up every morning and afternoon. In the afternoons many of those who work @ like AMD and such on Southwest PKWY use Bee Caves to get to 360, so it gets backed up then too. Though I guess that won't really mater since you will be going the other way going home.

[hoffdano]

I live on the "other side" of SH71 from Sweetwater. I have been driving from this area to the Arboretum area since 1998. I drive 71 to 2244 to 360 to Great Hills Trail.

2244 west of 360 does not have crazy drivers in general. It has some typical Austin drivers that clog the left lane absent mindedly going too slow. In rush hour that behavior doesn't matter as much. But otherwise the rush hour commute moves if not as fast as I'd like. 2244 is noticaebly slower between 7:30 and 8:15 than it is earlier or later.

I think 30 mins to Westlake Dr. should be reliable from Sweetwater. I wish that were my drive.

[Wold Chamberlain]

BevoLJ, thank you. I have thought similarly - it seems that the left turn from Bee Cave/2244 eastbound onto CapTX/360 northbound is both a) a pretty sharp turn and b) would get jampacked during rush hour, as that left turn lane before the underpass only seems to have room for 6-8 cars before they would impede the through lanes. This also gave me good context for AMD traffic (if I interpret correctly, you're suggesting some AMDers head west on Southwest Pkwy to Barton Creek north to Bee Cave east to 360 so as to avoid the always-looks-packed 71 east/360 north, right? Conveniently that is the opposite of me, but is good for me to know.) Thanks so much.

[Wold Chamberlain]

hoffdano, thank you - I don't think I could have asked for a more identical perspective! I see that you have a 45-ish minute no traffic drive and that I get to exit 360 before the bridge and about 5 miles before you do, and those 5 miles after the bridge toward the Arboretum seems to be busier.

If I may ask, you might have some context on my other options - we've considered Great Hills (and specifically the area around Sierra Vista/Sierra Nevada) as another neighborhood as well, but Google Maps tells me that getting from this part of Upper Great Hills to 360/Westlake in the morning or 360/Westlake to Upper Great Hills in the evening can easily be 20-25 minutes, and if that's true, we'd tip toward Sweetwater and your neck of the woods for the views, the schools and what must to you seem to be the encroaching commercialization and shopping areas.

[BevoLJ]

Originally Posted by Wold Chamberlain

BevoLJ, thank you. I have thought similarly - it seems that the left turn from Bee Cave/2244 eastbound onto CapTX/360 northbound is both a) a pretty sharp turn and b) would get jampacked during rush hour, as that left turn lane before the underpass only seems to have room for 6-8 cars before they would impede the through lanes. This also gave me good context for AMD traffic (if I interpret correctly, you're suggesting some AMDers head west on Southwest Pkwy to Barton Creek north to Bee Cave east to 360 so as to avoid the always-looks-packed 71 east/360 north, right? Conveniently that is the opposite of me, but is good for me to know.) Thanks so much.

You are welcome.

That turn is really bad. But it is probably the worst part of the commute. Overall, I don't think it will be a bad commute, just wanted to warn you on that intersection and stretch of road. Expect it to always be backed up. Most all suburban commutes one way or another have a spot like that. The 30 mins or so it will take you most mornings is pretty normal for Austin's suburbs.

Regarding Southwest Pkwy, yep... lots of them use Bee Caves Rd. I shouldn't have just mentioned AMD. It isn't just their fault. There are tons and tons of other huge tech companies down there. And they seem to just keep popping up like weeds. One is adding a big expansion and like 500 jobs, another like 300 over the next couple years, and there is a large new 350k" office or something planned to be built down there. But the city has been working on the overpasses for the 71/290 and Mopac intersection right where SW Pkwy runs into it there. That may help it out a lot, and maybe less of the SW Pkwy workers will use Bee Caves Rd? I hope so.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by Wold Chamberlain

hoffdano, thank you - I don't think I could have asked for a more identical perspective! I see that you have a 45-ish minute no traffic drive and that I get to exit 360 before the bridge and about 5 miles before you do, and those 5 miles after the bridge toward the Arboretum seems to be busier.

If I may ask, you might have some context on my other options - we've considered Great Hills (and specifically the area around Sierra Vista/Sierra Nevada) as another neighborhood as well, but Google Maps tells me that getting from this part of Upper Great Hills to 360/Westlake in the morning or 360/Westlake to Upper Great Hills in the evening can easily be 20-25 minutes, and if that's true, we'd tip toward Sweetwater and your neck of the woods for the views, the schools and what must to you seem to be the encroaching commercialization and shopping areas.

Southbound 360 in the morning is worse - hence the times you project. They sound about right. Northbound 360 is much worse in the afternoon.

[Hill Country]

I commute everyday down 2244 but I make right turn on 360 in the morning and come back in the afternoon.

I leave the same time as my kids, which is around 7:20. It is a breeze. No traffic for that left turn either. But around 8, 2244 east bound is a mess. May last about 1 hour.

Going home was never a problem.

This is because of the schools are not kind of old in this area and traffic engineering was not good. Hence during summer, traffic is much better.

And I would recommend an established community instead of sweet water. That subdivision just started, and it might be another 10 years before it is built out.

Good luck.

[hoffdano]

I just thought I'd add something about my commute this morning. I left the Nitro swimming pool at 7:01 a.m. I reached Lake Austin at 7:21 a.m. Traffic was lighter than usual. Never sat at a light for more than one cycle on Bee Caves Rd. or 360.

[Wold Chamberlain]

Hill Country, thank you, and my apologies for my belated reply. Your reply is exceptionally helpful to me - it really seems to cement in my mind that Bee Cave/2244 has the opportunity to be nice and swift moving, especially outside of the 7:45-8:30am window of time, which seems quite reasonable. I also appreciate the neighborhood advice and we'll look into some others in that area. Thanks!