The corner where Mesa Drive meets Spicewood Springs Road is a short stretch of errands. Randalls is at 8040 Mesa Drive. Another Broken Egg Cafe is at 8012 Mesa Drive, and it describes its spot as next to Randalls at Mesa Drive and Spicewood Springs Road. St. Matthew's Episcopal Church is on the same street at 8134 Mesa Drive.
Three public road projects touch this corridor this fall, and each one has its own finish date. Mesa Drive was resurfaced over the summer, and the City says roadwork on Mesa and at the Spicewood Springs intersection continues through September and October. Spicewood Springs Road, heading west toward Loop 360, has a substantial completion date of summer 2027. At the far end, where Spicewood Springs reaches Loop 360, TxDOT's project can't start construction before 2029.
The Mesa side reaches its final layout first. The Spicewood side follows next summer at the earliest, and the Loop 360 end comes years after that.
Mesa Drive finishes first, and neighbors changed the plan
Mesa Drive between Spicewood Springs Road and Far West Boulevard was resurfaced in July and August 2026. The City says that stretch was last resurfaced about 20 years ago, and its design standards have changed since then. Two changes were required to meet the current standards. Travel lanes shrink from 16 feet to between 11 and 12 feet. On-street parking moves to the east side of the street only, separate from the bike lane.
The rest of the final design, according to the City's Mesa Drive project page, includes:
- One travel lane in each direction
- Bike lanes with painted buffers on both sides
- Four new pedestrian crossing islands
- Asphalt speed cushions in place of the old rubber ones
- Safety improvements at the Spicewood Springs Road and Mesa Drive intersection
- Parking only on the east side, separated from the bike lane
Public input shaped this layout. The first survey ran March 19 through April 8, 2026, and drew more than 1,000 participants. Speeding was the leading concern. The City's own data backs that up. In 2025, its Speed Management program ranked this stretch of Mesa 12th of 878 streets evaluated citywide.
The second round, which reviewed a draft design, went poorly. In the City's words:
"Overall support for the proposed design was low: 31% supported it, while 65% did not."
The City revised the plan. The draft had eight new pedestrian crossings. About 70 comments said that was too many, so the final design has four. Flexible posts along the bike lanes were also scaled back, based on feedback from both rounds. They'll go in only at speed cushions and pedestrian crossings.
So the Mesa you drive this winter is narrower, has one lane each way, has parking on one side, and has half the crossings the City first proposed. The City says the schedule may change. Even so, this is the only one of the three projects with a near-term finish.
Spicewood Springs Road keeps moving its finish date
Turn west at Randalls and you're on a $31 million project funded by the 2016 Mobility Bond. It covers Spicewood Springs Road from Mesa Drive to Loop 360. The approved design calls for two vehicle lanes in each direction, a raised median with left-turn bays, a shared-use path on both sides, and new stormwater facilities. According to Community Impact's 2023 coverage, the current road switches between one and two lanes in each direction. With no continuous center turn lane, getting into businesses is harder and traffic backs up.
The finish date has moved several times. Here's how the published timeline has changed:
- 2018: Community Impact reported that construction could start in 2021.
- September 2021: Community Impact said construction was expected to run from early 2022 through 2024.
- December 2023: Construction began. KXAN gave a completion target of December 2026.
- December 2025: Community Impact still listed late 2026.
- August 11, 2026: The City said weather delays in spring and early summer 2026 pushed substantial completion to summer 2027. Community Impact's September 15 roundup reported the same change from late 2026.
The construction start slipped by about two years, and the finish date moved again after crews started. Summer 2027 is the current target, but this project has missed earlier targets.
What this fall looks like on the Spicewood stretch
The City's August update spells out what's underway. Starting in September, crews are building the shared-use paths on both sides of Spicewood Springs Road. Rain-garden work and paving of the travel lanes continue through fall 2026.
The posted work hours are narrower on weekdays than they used to be. The City's project page now lists roadwork from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends. It asks drivers to follow work-zone speed limits and allow extra time. In February 2025, Community Impact reported crew hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day, with workers and trucks arriving around 6:30 a.m. That report also said crews had replaced a 66-inch water valve at the Old Spicewood Springs Road intersection.
Under the current schedule, weekday traffic in the morning and late afternoon falls outside posted work hours. Saturdays and Sundays get the full 12-hour window.
The paths are where pedestrians will notice the biggest change, since the design puts a continuous shared-use path on both sides of the road. The City's project materials don't name a trail or greenbelt these paths will connect to, so their use beyond the corridor itself is still unclear.
At Loop 360, construction hasn't started
The far end of the corridor is on the slowest schedule. TxDOT's Loop 360 project at Lakewood Drive and Spicewood Springs Road was environmentally cleared in summer 2023. Utility relocation comes before construction, and construction "is contingent on funding and anticipated to begin as early as 2029." TxDOT says utility work may require occasional lane closures.
The planned changes are significant. According to TxDOT's June 2025 fact sheet, Loop 360's mainlanes would no longer have signals at Lakewood Drive, at Spicewood Springs Road east and Bluffstone Drive, or at Spicewood Springs Road west. Overpasses would go in at the eastern intersections, and the project would add a shared-use path and sidewalks within its own limits.
That means the widened four-lane Spicewood Springs Road, if it finishes in summer 2027, will still end at the signalized Loop 360 intersections for at least two more years.
How the corner changes through next summer
| Approach | What's changing | Current timing |
|---|---|---|
| Mesa Drive, north to Far West Blvd | Narrower lanes, buffered bike lanes, four crossing islands, east-side parking only | Roadwork through September and October 2026 |
| Spicewood Springs Rd, west to Loop 360 | Four lanes, raised median, shared-use paths both sides, rain gardens | Substantial completion summer 2027 |
| Loop 360 at Spicewood Springs | Mainlane signals removed, overpasses at eastern intersections | Construction as early as 2029, funding dependent |
The changes at the intersection itself come from the Mesa project, which lists safety improvements at Spicewood Springs Road and Mesa Drive as part of its final design. If the City's fall schedule holds, the Mesa approach will have its permanent layout for the holidays. Through next summer, the Spicewood approach will still be torn up for paving and path work.
For a Saturday trip to Randalls or brunch at Another Broken Egg, coming from the north on Mesa means the new street. Coming from the west on Spicewood Springs means the work zone, where the City currently posts weekend crew hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and targets substantial completion for summer 2027.
Meryl Hawk follows Northwest Hills block by block, including which streets near a home are finished and which are still years from done. If road timelines are part of a decision you're weighing on this side of MoPac, Meet with Meryl and we'll walk through the projects closest to the address you have in mind.
