When I moved to Lakeway back in October of 1988, it felt like we were out in the country.  I have no idea what the population was, but it was nothing compared to today.  The area from Hudson Bend to Lakeway exploded after the bridge below Mansfield Dam was built.  I think that was back in early 1994, but I can't remember for sure.  Before the bridge was built, this was what we drove across to get to and from northern Austin:

620 on top of Mansfield Dam

As you can see, this was a very narrow road with no shoulders and absolutely no room for error.  You can also see that there is no guard rail on the south side of the road - just some poles with a metal cable to keep cars from plunging off the side.  Crossing the top of Mansfield Dam was especially fun at night in the rain.  If a truck happened to be coming toward you, the best thing to do was slow down and get as far to the right as possible.  If someone broke down or had an accident on the dam, traffic stopped.  Some people simply wouldn't cross the dam at all.  Fast forward to 1994 and beyond and this is what is now used to cross the river:

Back to growth...  The area on the Lakeway side of the dam was growing steadily in the 1990s.  RM 620 was and remains the only road going from the west - northwest part of Austin to Lakeway, Bee Cave and beyond without driving all the way to the southwest side of Austin and taking Bee Cave Road.    With the popularity of Lake Travis growing, the excellent Lake Travis ISD schools and just a general need for more efficient transportation, the bridge and widening 620 were going to happen anyway.

The Lakeway police chief estimated that the city of Lakeway had grown from around 8,000 people in 2000 to around 14,000 in 2007.  I don't have numbers for the city of Bee Cave, but growth there has been just as dramatic.  The traffic counts provided by Travis County are very telling.  In 1990, there were around 8,000 vehicles per day crossing Mansfield Dam.  In 1993, there were 8,500 and in 1994, there were 11,300.  That is a huge jump, which is why I think the bridge opened in 1994.  The traffic count in 2005 was 24,000.  Of course not all of that is commuter traffic to and from work, but commuters have to be a significant source.

It is interesting to drive by the dam with people new to the area in the car.  When I tell them that we used to drive across the dam, they usually look over at it and are shocked.  It simply doesn't look like there can be a road up there.

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