Year-long work starts on deadly Texas 71 intersection
Active road construction near the Texas 71-Burnet County Road 401 intersection south of Marble Falls. Work should be completed by the spring of 2026, bringing badly needed safety upgrades to the intersection, which has been the site of several serious accidents. Staff photo by Suzanne Freeman
Long-awaited work and safety improvements began in early May on the Texas 71-Burnet County Road 401 intersection south of Marble Falls. The $6.3 million job could take a year to complete.
Plans include added left-turn lanes, right-turn lanes, and a signal at the notoriously dangerous intersection, which lies about 1.8 miles east of the U.S. 281-Texas 71 intersection. CR 401 is also known as Shovel Mountain Road.
According to an emailed statement from the Texas Department of Transportation to DailyTrib.com, the multimillion-dollar project is a joint effort between TxDOT and Burnet County. It should be done by the spring of 2026. Traffic delays are expected throughout construction.
The intersection lies within Burnet County Commissioner Joe Don Dockery’s Precinct 4. He has been advocating for the safety improvements since 2019.
“That (intersection) work is imperative,” Dockery told DailyTrib.com. “We’ve had several, violent major collisions there, and we always appreciate TxDOT’s contributions.”
A three-vehicle collision shut down Texas 71 near the intersection on March 31, the latest in a list of serious accidents as noted by the DailyTrib.com stories below:
- Two killed in Texas 71 collision ID’d, 2024
- Spicewood woman killed in TX 71 crash, 2020
- Two-vehicle accident at Texas 71 and CR 401 sends one to hospital, 2013