BEE CAVE, Texas — With more people moving to the area and new developments popping up, Highway 71 in western Travis County has gotten a lot more dangerous.
In response, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has lowered the speed limit for a long stretch of the road.
TxDOT said there were seven fatal crashes along Highway 71 last year -- and there's a whole Facebook group, Safer 71, dedicated to making the highway safer.
That effort got TxDOT's attention and they listened, reducing the speed limit to 55 miles an hour from the Bee Cave city limits all the way down to the Pedernales River.
"I think it's very important because there's a lot of deaths on that road," Robin Oneal, who drives down Highway 71 almost every day, said.
"Lots of accidents happen and, even further down, some deaths," Carra Trottier, who also takes that stretch of road every day, said.
Both Oneal and Trottier said Highway 71 is dangerous.
"People die, and it's hard to get on the other side of the road," Oneal said.
"Speed limits aren’t set arbitrarily," Diann Hodges, a spokesperson for TxDOT said.
Hodges said that engineering studies were made that reflect the safe and reasonable speed of the majority of drivers.
In this particular case, it was determined the speed limit could be reduced from 60 mph to 55 mph.
"People need to be able to get on that road and feel safe getting from point A to point B," Greg Short, president of the Safer 71 group, said.
This is something they've been working on for months, and the group has even created a website, Safer71.org, to advocate for safer regulations on Highway 71.
"Fundamentally, what we want to see is the road have a plan forward and to be engineered to meet people traveling it each day," Short said.
They're happy to see TxDOT agree to the new reduced speed limit.
"We're very glad that everyone is working together to address these safety issues," Short said.
"The speed limit going down a little bit is really good," Oneal said. "I'm glad I hear about it or else I would have been getting a ticket."
TxDOT is working to make Highway 71 even safer. A $13 million construction project has been funded, and a design is being completed to widen SH 71 to a five-lane roadway from the Pedernales River to the Blanco County Line.
They are expecting to get that project started by March 2022.
A separate $10 million construction project has also been funded to continue the lane expansion through Spicewood.