From site feasibility and Traffic Impact Analyses to agency coordination and final approval, GKW helps developers, architects, and civil engineering teams navigate traffic requirements and keep projects moving across Texas.
Most developers ask the same handful of questions before they ever call a traffic engineer. Here's where to start.
It depends on the reviewing agency's thresholds for your development's size, land use, and location. GKW can review your project address, proposed land use, and approximate size and tell you whether a full TIA, a smaller traffic memorandum, or no study at all is likely to be required.
Requirements vary by jurisdiction and by how much traffic your development is expected to generate. GKW coordinates directly with the reviewing agency to scope the study up front, so you know what's required before work begins.
Depending on where your site sits, that could be a city, county, or TxDOT district anywhere in Texas. GKW coordinates directly with the reviewing agency and can confirm which one applies to your project.
Yes. GKW can serve as the traffic department for civil engineering and site-development firms that don't maintain a strong in-house traffic group — providing counts, TIA scoping, Synchro analysis, access recommendations, and agency coordination while your firm retains the overall client relationship.
From a quick threshold check to a full multi-intersection study, GKW scopes the work to match what your project and reviewing agency actually require.
Full TIAs and traffic impact studies covering trip generation, distribution, and level-of-service analysis for developments of any size.
An initial review of your project address, land use, and size to determine whether a full study, a smaller memorandum, or no study is likely required.
Shorter-form documentation for projects that don't need a full TIA but still require agency-facing traffic documentation.
Driveway and access-management analysis, including support through the TxDOT driveway permit process where state right-of-way is involved.
Turn-lane warrant studies, signal warrant analysis, and queueing/stacking analysis to support site access and driveway design.
Site circulation and parking studies, including school pickup/drop-off circulation analysis for institutional and mixed-use sites.
In-house traffic counts paired with Synchro and SimTraffic modeling to support analysis and mitigation concepts.
Direct coordination with cities, counties, and TxDOT districts throughout Texas during review and approval.
GKW is TxDOT-precertified across more than 20 engineering categories, supporting the firm's qualifications for TxDOT and other transportation assignments throughout Texas.
We prepare traffic impact analyses (TIAs) and coordinate with agencies across Texas—so your project meets review requirements wherever it’s located.
For more than 25 years, GKW Engineering has supported private development throughout Texas with traffic impact analyses and transportation engineering services. Our experience spans commercial, residential, mixed-use, industrial, institutional, and other development projects—from focused site evaluations to complex developments requiring detailed traffic analysis and agency coordination.
The projects below represent a selection of GKW’s private-sector TIA experience and demonstrate the range of developments, traffic conditions, and transportation challenges our team has helped clients navigate.
GKW prepared a Traffic Impact Analysis for the proposed Vantage at New Braunfels Apartments, a 288-unit mid-rise apartment complex on a 16-acre tract along FM 1101 near S. Kowald Lane, just east of IH-35. GKW studied FM 1101 at S. Kowald Lane and at the S. School Driveway/S. Vantage Driveway, both located near a Comal ISD elementary school zone. Synchro analysis found the development's driveway intersection would operate at an acceptable level of service (a high LOS C in the AM peak, close to LOS B, and LOS B in the PM peak) at full build-out, with no additional roadway improvements required.
GKW performed a TxDOT-required engineering study for a proposed winery and tasting room — permitted under the project name Santafina Winery — a 24,600-square-foot building including a 3,500-square-foot tasting room along US Highway 290 outside Fredericksburg. Following the TxDOT Access Management Manual, GKW collected a weekend 24-hour traffic count, analyzed Saturday and Sunday peak-hour conditions in Synchro, and evaluated the proposed driveway against TxDOT's auxiliary-lane thresholds. The study found the new site-generated traffic would not trigger a requirement for turn lanes or deceleration/acceleration lanes, and confirmed no sight-distance deficiency at the roadway's 60-mph design speed. GKW recommended a single full-access driveway with a 35-foot curb radius and 45-foot throat width to safely accommodate delivery trucks. The site opened to the public in 2024 as Halter Ranch Texas.
GKW prepared a trip-generation consistency analysis for a proposed 102,000-square-foot H-E-B supermarket and an 8-position gas station with convenience store and car wash at Alamo Parkway and Alamo Ranch Parkway in San Antonio. Working with the City of San Antonio's Development Services Department, GKW demonstrated that the proposed development's trip generation was consistent with the land use already accounted for in the area's original master-planned Traffic Impact Analysis — satisfying the City's requirements without triggering a new or updated TIA study.
GKW prepared a traffic engineering study for the proposed Vantage at Corpus Christi Apartments, a 288-unit mid-rise complex on a 20-acre tract along Up River Road. GKW's field investigation found significant vehicle queuing at the nearby Up River Road/Deer Run intersection during drop-off and pick-up times at an adjacent elementary school, and provided the school and City with recommendations for managing that existing congestion. GKW's analysis found the proposed development's own traffic would have no significant impact on the intersection, which would continue operating at an acceptable level of service (LOS A during the regular PM peak, LOS B during school peak periods) at full build-out.
GKW prepared a Level 1 Traffic Impact Analysis, per City of Boerne ordinance, for the proposed Vantage at Boerne Apartments, a 288-unit apartment complex on a 17.5-acre tract along Old San Antonio Road near Cascade Cavern, adjacent to Boerne Middle School South. GKW studied four intersections along the corridor and found that while most needed no changes, the Old San Antonio Road/Cascade Cavern intersection required roadway improvements regardless of the new development — recommending a new right-turn lane, a two-way left-turn lane tapering into dedicated left-turn lanes, and a teardrop median for the westbound approach. GKW also ran AutoTURN fire-truck turning simulations to confirm the development driveway's radii were adequate for emergency vehicle access.
GKW prepared a Traffic Memorandum for a proposed 2,400-square-foot fast-casual, take-out-only restaurant occupying a former florist building at 1515 N. Walnut Avenue (SH-46) in New Braunfels. Using the City of New Braunfels TIA Worksheet, GKW found the new use would generate approximately 3 AM and 30 PM peak-hour trips — a modest net increase over the prior florist use and well below the City's 100-peak-hour-trip threshold requiring a full TIA. GKW confirmed the site's existing full-access driveway, shared internal circulation with the adjacent Jolt Coffee development, and the two-way left-turn lane on SH-46 would continue to operate adequately with no additional roadway improvements needed.
GKW prepared a Level 3 Traffic Impact Analysis for a large-scale, two-phase residential development in San Marcos, TX: Phase 1 comprising 266 single-family units and Phase 2 expanding to 2,316 single-family lots. GKW evaluated all proposed access points, intersection warrants, driveway spacing, and site circulation to ensure adequate traffic operations on the surrounding street network at full buildout. The study included trip generation, directional distribution, background growth projections, and level-of-service analysis at study-area intersections under existing, interim, and ultimate conditions. Findings informed turn-lane requirements, access control recommendations, and phased improvement obligations tied to development triggers — providing the developer and local jurisdiction a clear roadmap for transportation infrastructure commitments as the project builds out.
GKW prepared a Traffic Impact Analysis for a 300-unit, 18.28-acre multifamily development on Babcock Road in far northwest San Antonio. Site constraints — including a bridge structure and box culvert bordering the new Babcock Road intersection — limited how the access driveway could be built, so GKW redesigned the entrance location and turn-lane geometry to fit the site while meeting City design standards, coordinating the analysis through the City of San Antonio's permitting process.
GKW prepared a Traffic Impact Analysis for a five-building, 588,880-square-foot warehouse and distribution development on 48.28 acres in Travis County, near Austin. GKW's signal warrant analysis showed the project's driveway would meet peak-hour signal warrants at build-out, and GKW coordinated with Travis County, the City of Austin, and TxDOT to scope improvements at three intersections — clearing a path for a project of this scale to move forward.
GKW prepared a Traffic Impact Analysis for a 16.91-acre, three-phase mixed-use development in San Marcos, TX — a gas station and convenience store, a 10,175-square-foot retail center, and 188 multifamily units built out in stages. Field data collection was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, so GKW worked with the City of San Marcos to base the analysis on historical counts instead. GKW's turn-lane, signage, and signal-timing recommendations at the site's key intersections kept every studied movement at an acceptable level of service through full build-out.
GKW prepared a Traffic Impact Analysis for a 1.4-acre shopping center and fast-food drive-thru development at the intersection of Cotton Tail Lane and the Loop 1604 West Frontage Road in San Antonio. The analysis found that right-turning traffic from the frontage road would exceed the City's threshold for a mandatory deceleration lane, so GKW designed a 200-foot right-turn lane and driveway layout coordinated with TxDOT and VIA Metropolitan Transit — including relocating an affected bus stop — to keep the development's access safe and code-compliant.
GKW prepared a Traffic Impact Analysis and circulation design for a 188-student elementary charter school on a 2.98-acre site on Blanco Road in San Antonio. GKW identified that left-turn exiting traffic could queue back onto Blanco Road during pick-up and drop-off, and designed a two-driveway circulation plan — peak-hour turn restrictions, dedicated signage and pavement markings, and solar-powered school-zone flashers — that kept exit queuing safely within the site.
GKW prepared a Traffic Impact Analysis for a 5,500-square-foot convenience store with eight fuel pump positions in Travis County. GKW's study found that two adjacent intersections were already operating at failing levels of service before the project was proposed, so GKW recommended new traffic signals at both — improving conditions dramatically — alongside a channelized entrance designed for delivery and fuel trucks.
GKW prepared a Traffic Impact Analysis for a mixed-use development on Babcock Road in San Antonio combining multifamily units, a restaurant, and a variety store. GKW's study distinguished between traffic caused by the new development and a pre-existing capacity issue driven largely by nearby school traffic — keeping the client from being assigned costs for improvements the development didn't cause — while designing two new driveways that operate at an acceptable level of service.
GKW prepared a Traffic Impact Analysis for a 2.83-acre office and retail development on the NW Loop 410 frontage road in San Antonio, coordinated during an active TxDOT ramp-relocation project nearby. GKW designed the site's driveway to work around the ramp's new location and confirmed the development's traffic fell below the City's improvement threshold — meaning no additional roadway infrastructure was required.
GKW prepared a Level 2 Traffic Impact Analysis for the McQueeney Tract, a mixed-use development along FM 725 near New Braunfels combining a gas station and convenience store (12 fueling positions), a fast-food restaurant with drive-through, mid-rise multifamily housing, and single-family detached housing. Following the City of New Braunfels TIA ordinance and TxDOT guidelines, GKW's Synchro analysis found the development's full-access driveway on FM 725 would operate at an unacceptable level of service by the 2027 build-out year without improvements, and GKW's signal warrant analysis confirmed a traffic signal was warranted at the site. GKW recommended a full-access driveway with a new traffic signal, northbound and southbound right-turn lanes with 415-foot storage and 100-foot tapers, and roadway striping improvements on FM 725.
GKW can serve as the traffic department for civil engineering and site-development firms that don't maintain a strong in-house traffic group — providing counts, TIA scoping, Synchro analysis, access recommendations, and agency coordination while your firm retains the overall client relationship. Backed by 25+ years serving Texas, TxDOT precertification across 20+ categories, and GKW's own in-house data collection.
Direct, established coordination with cities, counties, and TxDOT districts across Texas.
Traffic counts and field data collected by GKW's own staff, not a third party.
Studies and recommendations led by GKW's licensed traffic engineering staff.