Drivers on 14 named street segments in the Lake Front Avenue area would face a 25 mph limit if the ordinance passes both readings and takes effect.
New Braunfels is scheduled to consider a first reading Sept. 28 that would lower the posted speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph on residential streets off Lake Front Avenue. The proposal spans Lake Front Avenue and portions of Dunlap Drive, Dunlap Loop, Carolyn Cove, Misty Acres Drive, Clear Cove Road, Little Pebble, Creek Bed Drive, Rivertree Drive, River Rock, Running River, River Hill, River Bank and Rio Verde.
What the traffic study found
The area is now posted at 30 mph, and the city study measured 85th-percentile speeds from 20 to 31 mph at six collection points. Misty Acres Drive produced the highest reading, 31 mph. The two Lake Front Avenue locations both measured 29 mph, while locations within Rivertree ranged from 20 to 22 mph after speed humps were installed there.
The study says four crashes were reported in the area from July 2023 through July 2026, including two classified as speed-related. It also describes frequent residential driveways, on-street parking and pedestrian activity, with sidewalks limited to Misty Acres Drive, Carolyn Cove and parts of Lake Front Avenue.
City staff recommended the 25 mph limit, and the Transportation and Traffic Advisory Board recommended approval on a 5-1 vote Sept. 10. The agenda item report estimates each traffic-control sign at about $150 and says the approved fiscal 2027 streets and drainage budget has sufficient funding.
A lower number is not the whole plan
The traffic study says a lower posted limit alone did not reduce speeds in the city’s 2025-26 Mission Drive pilot without engineering, education and enforcement. It attributes a six-mph reduction in Rivertree Drive’s 85th-percentile speed to recently installed speed humps and recommends additional traffic-calming analysis for Lake Front Avenue and Misty Acres Drive.
The Sept. 28 vote is only the first reading; the ordinance says it would take effect after a second reading, required signature and filing with the city secretary. The study calls for new traffic counts afterward, creating a public test of whether the lower limit changes speeds on Lake Front Avenue and Misty Acres Drive.