Major improvements coming to Spicewood stretch of Texas 71

A 5-mile stretch of Texas 71 between Double Horn Creek and Spicewood will be widened and get a center turn lane and shoulders, but not for a while. The $16 million Texas Department of Transportation project goes out for bid in April 2026.

“I have been an advocate for this project for several years,” said Burnet County

Precinct 4 Commissioner Joe Don Dockery in a recent county-issued media release. “With several heavy industrial businesses, and the new residential developments in the area, this project is greatly needed. TxDOT continues to be an active partner in efforts to protect our local citizens as well the traveling public.”

Work will begin on the east side of Double Horn Creek and run about 5 miles east to Spur 191 near the Spicewood General Store. This stretch of Texas 71 is currently four, undivided 11-foot-wide travel lanes. Plans are to widen the lanes to 12 feet and add a 14-foot-wide continuous center turn lane and 10-foot-wide shoulders on either side of the highway.

Dockery told DailyTrib.com that the improved roadway will benefit four subdivisions – Spicewood Trails, Spicewood Estates, Quail Creek, and Deerpath Way – as well as the city of Double Horn, a large warehouse, asphalt and concrete plants, and two propane bulk storage facilities.

“The improvements requested will provide drivers turning left a safe place to do so out of the

regular traffic lanes,” stated Joseph Muck, TxDOT’s Burnet-area engineer, in the media release. “In addition, the shoulders will allow motorists a place to pull over, in case of an emergency.”

There is currently no estimated completion date for the project, but Dockery noted that projects that go out for bid in April are usually started that same year.

dakota@thepicayune.com