Bee Cave plans for a bridge at Great Divide on pause
The Bee Cave City Council on Tuesday rejected a plan to build a 200-foot bridge at the Great Divide Drive crossing over Little Barton Creek.
HDR Engineering presented two options to the council for a bridge at the low-water crossing site. The first option was a 200-foot-long bridge. The second bridge would contain eight 10-foot by 6-foot culverts, or water tunnels, that would clear a two-year storm event. Mayor Kara King made a motion to approve the construction of a 200-foot bridge, but it failed to pass. No motion was made on the culvert option.
The current crossing consists of three corrugated metal pipes that have a capacity of about 60 cubic feet of water per second. A two-year rain event, like the storms the city faced in May 2019, April 2020, and October 2021, moves about 2,800 cubic square feet of water per second, which the crossing is not capable of handling.
Several council members said the nearly five-year process of evaluating the options was a waste of time and money.
The Homestead neighborhood is only accessible through Great Divide Drive, and the low-water crossing there sometimes floods, making it difficult for emergency responders to enter the subdivision. City officials have said a bridge could help solve the flooding issues the area faces during rain events.
In 2021, the city of Bee Cave selected an engineering firm to begin designing a 90-foot-long bridge over the low-water crossing, but switched firms after it failed to consider how the bridge would impact the surrounding water levels. HDR estimates that the bridge would result in over a 3-foot rise in water levels in the creek.
HDR Engineering evaluated the impacts of both options: the first option would have no visible impact on the water levels and increase the surface level of the road about 8 feet, and the second option would raise water levels about 10 inches more than its current condition and increase the surface level of the road about 3 feet. Both options are expected to take six months to complete.
With the second option, the creek would move about 6 feet onto the north bank of the creek and about 5 feet onto the south bank in the event of a flood, which would risk damage to several properties along Little Barton Creek.
King said she was concerned the second option would have too much impact on the property owners in the area.
“The problem that I have personally is that (the creek) would, in a major flood event, creep up on the (residents’) property, maybe even people further down the creek,” King said. “I have a big problem with doing something that would affect someone else's land, so I cannot in good conscience support that decision.”
Community members spoke out both in favor and against the options, with many asking if a smaller bridge could clear a two-year event. Taylor Guess, a property owner whose land would be impacted by flooding from the construction of a bridge, asked the council and the engineering company to reevaluate the options.
The first option, a 200-foot long bridge, is the smallest bridge that would not raise the water level of the creek, according to the engineering firm. Any shorter bridge would act as a dam in the event of a flood and raise the water levels of the creek. The firm's representative said it's possible that building a larger version of the culvert option would reduce the impact on the water levels.
The council will take up the issue at a later date.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to remove a reference to the city not renewing the contract of HDR Engineering.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Bee Cave plans for a bridge at Great Divide on pause
