HIGHWAY 71 - BEN WHITE BOULEVARD

Highway 71, also known as Ben White Blvd., was a surface-level road until the early 2000s. Highway 71 features Austin's main airport, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, which opened in 1999. Like most of the Austin-series entries, this was a fairly light look as we continue to Bastrop. Version 1.1 of this page adds Hampton Inn (at Governors Row), Motel 71, and Starbucks Coffee (Cardinal Loop). Version 1.1.1 fixes the text and better integrates I-35 and Highway 71 in Bastrop.

INTERSTATE 35 to FM 973

Highway 71 is a freeway coming off from Interstate 35, built into a freeway in the 2000s.

Hampton Inn / 4141 Governors Row
Like 4120 Freidrich Lane below, this Hampton Inn (Hampton Inn Austin/Airport Area South) looks very much on the outside as it did in the 1999 film Office Space, where it can be seen in a few exterior shots.

4120 Freidrich Lane
This low-rise office building is off the freeway and is in between Friedrich Lane and a defunct railroad line, but it should be familiar to anyone who's watched Office Space...

Pinthouse Brewing / 2201 East Ben White Blvd.
Owners of the Pinthouse Pizza restaurants (mentioned on this page), this location doesn't serve pizza (only sandwiches and bar snacks) but is their main production center.

Motel 71 / 2500 E. Ben White Blvd.
Motel 71 appears to be out of a different era, though it was only built in 1983. It has, however, kept its name since then (though appears to have actually opened in 1984).

McDonald's / 4501 East Ben White Blvd.
In addition to access to access from Ben White, this restaurant is also accessed from a wide right of way that used to be Burleson Road before it was bisected and rerouted by the freeway construction. The restaurant itself was rebuilt in 2010.

Valero / 6009 East Ben White Blvd.
A very small Circle K (formerly a Corner Store) is tucked under the canopy of this gas station.

La Quinta Inn & Suites / 7625 E. Ben White Blvd.
La Quinta Inn Austin Airport opened in early 1999, an early adopter of Austin-Bergstrom Airport.

Exxon / 7715 E. Ben White Blvd.
It appears this Exxon was an "On the Run" station before being sold to Tigermarket, which in turn became 7-Eleven by the early 2010s.

Waffle House / 7809 E. Ben White Blvd.
This Waffle House opened in 2015 and has since restored its 24 hour service.

Starbucks Coffee / 2401 Cardinal Loop
StarbucksEverywhere reports this as being open in January 2019. It replaced an Exxon gas station (later converted to Mobil) that existed from 1995 to 2003.

3119 Hwy. 71 E.
This Sonic closed in late 2016 or early 2017, and there's not much left of it anymore except a small cinderblock building here. It originally opened in 1986.

FM 973 to FM 214

For years, FM 973 was bisected by Highway 71. The first stoplight (from the east) connected southbound FM 973 to Fallwell Lane, and the second stoplight as to the northbound FM 973. In 2013, the two stoplights were converted into a superstreet with left turns forbidden from FM 973 and Fallwell, as well as going straight across forbidden, and additional stoplights on both sides of the two to provide a way to make a U-turn. A few years later, construction began on an overpass and rerouting that connected the two sides of FM 973 together for the first time in decades, leaving Fallwell only accessible via frontage road access.

Shell / 2854 State Hwy. 71
By this time Highway 71 isn't a freeway anymore, with a signalized intersection at FM 214. This Shell gained a Circle K in the early 2010s before Circle K made its full-fledged return across most of Texas, and had the slightly older Circle K logo (before their mid-2010s revamp). This has since been updated.

Beyond FM 314, is the Bastrop area. Continue to Continue onto Highway 71 here.

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