On Wednesday, September 23, drivers crossing Loop 360 at Cedar Street did something they hadn't been able to do since 2022: go straight through without stopping. The two-way bypass opened quietly, the latest piece of a project that has reshaped the drive past Davenport Village for four years. If you live in Davenport Ranch, Rob Roy, or Westlake Highlands, you've probably already noticed the smoother crossing.
What you may not have noticed is that a different, much longer construction project just started a mile up the road, and it has nothing to do with the one that's finishing.
Four Years, One Intersection
The Westlake Drive and Cedar Street project began construction in June 2022. Its goal was simple to describe and hard to build: pull the main lanes of Loop 360 under Westlake Drive and Cedar Street so traffic no longer has to stop at signals. TxDOT and the City of Austin split the $72.1 million cost, with the city's share coming from its 2016 mobility bond.
The Westlake Drive bridge came first, opening ahead of schedule before the start of the school year at St. Stephen's, which sits right along that stretch. Cedar Street followed, closing for roughly eight months while crews excavated and poured the second bridge. That closure ended when the new bypass opened on September 23.
TxDOT's own project page still lists the segment as expected to reach full completion in late 2026, pending weather, which means some paving, striping, and permanent signal work remains. But the driving pattern that has defined this intersection since 2022, the U-turns, the detours to the Shell station signal, the stop-and-go through Cedar Street, is effectively over.
A Mile North, a Different Clock Just Started
With this much orange barrel activity in one corridor, the two projects are easy to fold into one. A separate project at Courtyard Drive and RM 2222, less than two miles north, didn't wrap up alongside Westlake Drive and Cedar Street. It just began.
According to Austin Lakeside's account, TxDOT cleared this project environmentally back in spring 2021, but construction didn't start for years. The delay wasn't paperwork. A rockslide in May 2024 damaged the limestone cliffs next to the southbound lanes near Courtyard Drive, and stabilizing that slope required excavating an estimated 155,000 cubic yards of rock, work scheduled in part around migratory bird patterns. That stabilization wasn't finished until spring 2026, clearing the way for a ceremonial groundbreaking in April.
The plan for Courtyard Drive mirrors what just wrapped up at Westlake and Cedar: an underpass to remove the traffic signal from Loop 360's main lanes. But RM 2222 gets a more involved fix, a diverging diamond interchange designed to cut down on the conflict points that make that intersection one of the more congested spots on the corridor. TxDOT's own timeline puts the full build, from groundbreaking to open, at three to four years. That lands the project around 2029, not this fall.
| Westlake Drive & Cedar Street | Courtyard Drive & RM 2222 | |
|---|---|---|
| Construction started | June 2022 | April 2026 |
| Status as of late September 2026 | Bypass open, final paving and striping remain | Early phase, cliff work complete, main build underway |
| Expected completion | Late 2026 | 2029 |
| Project cost | $72.1 million | $68.4 million |
Which One You Drive Through Depends on Which Way You Turn
Davenport Village sits almost exactly between these two intersections. That's the detail that matters if you live nearby. Head south toward Westlake Drive and Cedar Street, and you're now driving through a project in its finishing stretch, the kind where, as Fox 7 reported, TxDOT spokesperson Brad Wheelis said, "We're on time and on budget." Head north toward Courtyard Drive and RM 2222, and you're driving into a project that just started its multi-year build, the kind where night closures and lane shifts are the early chapters of a story that runs another three years, not the last few months of one that's almost finished.
Confusing the two isn't a small mistake. If you assume the whole Loop 360 corridor near Davenport Village is winding down because one intersection got easier, you'll be caught off guard by the ramp closures and weekend night work that are just getting started a short drive away.
The Shopping Center in the Middle Is Also Mid-Change
Davenport Village itself has been going through its own shift on a similar timeline. Whitestone REIT, the shopping center's owner, announced in March 2025 that it had signed agreements with Starbucks Reserve and Pvolve, with plans to connect a new tenant, CUBExec, to the existing RVE Fitness space, which has occupied its 7,815-square-foot spot since February 2023. The announced targets had Starbucks Reserve opening by summer 2025, Pvolve by spring 2025, and CUBExec's executive suites following by the first quarter of 2026.
Whitestone framed the changes as an effort to make Davenport Village an "18-hour activity hub" serving the same neighborhoods bordering both construction projects: Davenport Ranch, Westlake Highlands, Rob Roy, and Barton Creek. The company's own materials describe the center's surrounding area as home to average household incomes above $247,000 within three miles, and note it sits near the Austin Country Club and St. Stephen's Episcopal School.
Whether every one of those tenants has opened its doors exactly on schedule isn't something a press release can settle. What's clear is that the retail refresh at Davenport Village and the two Loop 360 projects bracketing it are running on overlapping timelines. Whitestone's announced target dates for its coffee, fitness, and executive-suite lineup all preceded the fall 2026 Cedar Street bypass opening.
What This Means for the Next Few Years
The corridor didn't get less congested when the Cedar Street bypass opened. It got congested in a different place, for a different reason, on a longer clock. If your daily errand loop takes you south past Davenport Village toward Westlake Drive, the disruption you've lived with since 2022 is winding down. If it takes you north toward Courtyard Drive and RM 2222, you're at the start of a build that TxDOT itself says will take three to four years to finish.
Neither timeline is a reason to think less of the neighborhood. Both are worth knowing before you plan a commute, book a contractor, or figure out which direction to avoid on a Friday night for the next several years.
If you're trying to figure out what any of this means for your own street in Davenport Ranch, Rob Roy, or Westlake Highlands, from how a changing shopping center or a multi-year road project might factor into your plans, Kristen Balke knows this stretch of Loop 360 as well as anyone selling homes along it. Let's Connect.
