When the City of Austin asked about its proposed Mesa Drive redesign this summer, 65 percent of respondents opposed it and 31 percent supported it. So why are crews restriping the stretch between Spicewood Springs Road and Far West Boulevard this fall?
Most of what you see on Mesa became required once the street was repaved. The neighborhood's feedback shaped the remaining pieces, and it changed them in ways you can count. Knowing which parts are which makes the new layout easier to read, especially if you drive, walk, or bike this stretch every week.
The Repaving Came First
Mesa Drive was resurfaced in July and August 2026. The city says that during resurfacing, old pavement markings are removed and replaced with markings that meet current safety and engineering standards. This section was last resurfaced about 20 years ago, and the standards changed a lot in that time.
Two changes follow directly from that rule. Travel lanes shrink from 16 feet wide to 11 or 12 feet, as the city's Transportation Criteria Manual requires. On-street parking moves to the east side of the street, kept apart from the bike lane, because the same manual requires separate space for parking and biking.
Sixteen feet is wide for a residential collector. Narrowing each lane by four or five feet frees up enough width for a buffered bike lane on each side, and that's the cross-section crews are painting now.
| What's changing on Mesa | What drove it |
|---|---|
| Travel lanes narrowed from 16 ft to 11–12 ft | Required by the city's Transportation Criteria Manual once the street was resurfaced |
| Parking only on the east side, separated from the bike lane | Required by the same manual |
| One travel lane in each direction with buffered bike lanes on both sides | Part of the final design |
| Asphalt speed cushions replacing the old rubber ones | Part of the final design |
| Four new pedestrian crossing islands | Optional; cut from eight after resident feedback |
| Flexible posts and other vertical bike-lane protection | Optional; limited to speed cushions and crossings after feedback |
| Safety changes at the Spicewood Springs Road intersection | Part of the final design |
What the Neighborhood's Feedback Changed
The city ran two rounds of engagement in spring and summer 2026. The process was visible early on. In March, Patch reported that the city was taking comments and planned to present the project at the Northwest Austin Civic Association's annual meeting.
The first round asked people what bothered them about the street. Sixty-four percent of respondents had at least one concern, and 20 to 25 percent had none. Excessive speeding came up most often, with nearly 40 percent naming it as their top concern.
The second round tested a proposed design, and that's where the 65 percent opposition showed up. The city's summary says the feedback showed which pieces had support and which needed to change. Two of the optional pieces changed as a result:
- Pedestrian crossings dropped from eight to four. Twice as many participants supported the crossings as opposed them, but about 70 comments said eight was too many. The final design keeps half.
- Vertical bike-lane protection was scaled back. Flexible posts will go in only at speed cushions and pedestrian crossings, where the city says they support the design. They won't line the whole corridor.
The vote didn't change the lane widths or the parking rule. Those were set once the new asphalt went down. Feedback trimmed the parts that were still open for discussion, and the trims are measurable: half the crossings, and posts only at specific points.
If you want to see the full comment record, the city links its Phase 1 and Phase 2 feedback summaries from the project page.
The Numbers Behind the Changes That Stayed
The city's own data explains why it kept the core of the redesign despite low support.
Each year, the Speed Management program reviews hundreds of Austin streets for speeding and crash risk. In 2025, this stretch of Mesa ranked 12th out of 878 streets reviewed citywide. Counts taken in 2026 found about half of drivers going over the speed limit. Vision Zero data shows more than 125 crashes on this segment from 2016 through 2025.
The street also carries more than cars. The city estimates that 250 to 475 pedestrians and 150 to 250 cyclists use this section of Mesa every day. Until now, those cyclists rode in a layout where parking and biking shared space. Under the new design, each has its own lane.
The Phase 1 survey and the speed counts point the same way. Speeding was residents' top complaint, and about half of measured drivers were over the limit. Narrower lanes and the new asphalt cushions target that problem directly. The disagreement in Phase 2 was mostly about how far the fix should go, and the four dropped crossings show where the city gave ground.
Driving the Stretch This Fall, End to End
The city says to expect roadwork on Mesa between Spicewood Springs Road and Far West Boulevard, including the Spicewood Springs intersection, through September and October. The schedule could change, and temporary traffic impacts are likely. Here's how the stretch lines up with places you probably already use:
- The Spicewood Springs end. Randalls at 8040 Mesa Drive sits near the intersection getting the safety changes. Another Broken Egg Cafe at 8012 Mesa Drive is right next door. With intersection work on the schedule, this corner is the most likely place to hit slowdowns before the end of October.
- St. Matthew's Episcopal Church. The campus has a small lot on Mesa and a larger one behind the church off Steck. With parking now limited to Mesa's east side, the Steck lot is the easier option. NWACA's electronics recycling day is here on Saturday, Nov. 7, from noon to 2 p.m.
- Stillhouse Hollow Nature Preserve. The preserve is at 7810 Sterling Drive. Dogs aren't allowed in city nature preserves. NWACA has an art event there on Monday, Oct. 19, from 6 to 7 p.m.
- The Far West end. Far West H-E-B is at 7025 Village Center Drive. Old Quarry Branch Library is on the same street at 7051 Village Center Drive, but Austin Public Library has postponed its reopening. Until it reopens, Spicewood Springs Branch at 8637 Spicewood Springs Road is open regular hours and has a drive-through window for holds.
The city's project page doesn't name the cross streets for the four new crossing islands. The published project map shows their locations. If one of them lands at the corner where you cross, the map on the project page is the quickest way to check.
NWACA's calendar also lists a park cleanup on Oct. 17 from 8 to 11 a.m. at Bull Creek District Park or Allen Park, with the location to be confirmed in neighborhood notices.
The Street Next Door Runs on a Different Schedule
Spicewood Springs Road, which meets Mesa at the north end of the project, has its own much longer project. The city describes the Spicewood Springs Road Corridor as a $31 million project from Loop 360 to Mesa. Construction began in December 2023, and completion is now expected in summer 2027. Community Impact reported on Sept. 15, 2026, that weather delays pushed substantial completion from late 2026 to summer 2027. Shared-use path work starts in September, and rain gardens and travel-lane paving continue this fall.
The two designs are built differently. Spicewood Springs gets two lanes each way, a raised median with left-turn bays, and shared-use paths on both sides. Mesa goes to one lane each way with painted bike buffers. One street is designed as an arterial and the other as a neighborhood connector, and the Mesa/Spicewood Springs intersection is where they meet.
Don't count on the two bike networks connecting cleanly yet. The city's summary says the corridor runs to Mesa, but its 2018 preliminary engineering report put the project's end 0.2 mile west of Mesa. Until the paths are built, there may be a gap between the new Mesa bike lanes and the Spicewood Springs paths.
If you have questions about Mesa while crews are out, the city's mobility bond team takes calls at 512-974-2300 and email at [email protected].
Street changes like this one affect how a block works day to day, from where guests park to which corner you cross at with a stroller. That kind of detail matters when you're weighing one Northwest Hills street against another. If you're thinking about a move within the neighborhood or nearby, Living Well in Austin can walk you through how projects like Mesa and Spicewood Springs affect specific blocks. Schedule a discovery call and get private access to Austin listings.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
