Park and Trail Related News from the City of Austin

The Austin Parks Foundation is an independent non-profit. We are not affiliated with or funded by any city department. This page is dedicated to the projects and successes of our friends at the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department (PARD), the Public Works Bicycle and Pedestrian Program and other City and County entities.

Boardwalk Project Needs Your Support

In the next few weeks, the Austin City Council will consider the proposed concept plan for the Riverside Boardwalk Trail. Work on design and possible routes has been underway since this past summer and we hope that you've been able to attend the many open houses and public meetings. As a reminder, this is to addresses the 1.3 mile gap in the trail, stretching from just east of the Austin American Statesman property to parkland near the intersection of E. Riverside and S. Lakeshore.

There are still issues of construction methods, segment routes, environmental impacts, and funding to be considered in the months ahead during the design stage. Advancing the concept plan to the next stage does not mean the work of designing, funding and building the best boardwalk trail for Austin and Lady Bird Lake is finished. But it will mean we would be closer than we have ever been to providing safe, continuous pedestrian access along the entire lakefront.

The Trail around Lady Bird Lake is the most popular park in Austin with hundreds of thousands of visits each year. Further, it is the number tourist attraction in Austin. Please help make the Trail the best it can be for all of Austin.

Please show your support for completing the Trail by emailing our City Council today:

will.wynn@ci.austin.tx.us
lee.leffingwell@ci.austin.tx.us
mike.martinez@ci.austin.tx.us
randi.shade@ci.austin.tx.us
brewster.mccracken@ci.austin.tx.us
sheryl.cole@ci.austin.tx.us
laura.morrison@ci.austin.tx.us

Waller Creek Tunnel Project Information Available On-Line

The Waller Creek Tunnel Project is a proposed underground storm water bypass tunnel from Waterloo Park to Lady Bird Lake near Waller Beach. The tunnel will be 22-feet in diameter and almost one mile long. The project is expected to remove an estimated 1,243,000 square feet of land from the floodplain of the lower Waller Creek watershed, will allow denser development in a very desirable area of downtown, and divert floodwaters that create erosion problems and safety concerns.

Austin Parks Foundation will be involved as an advocate for the best possible redesign of Waterloo Park and the outlet area. The city is maintaining a website dedicated to this project, including regular progress reports, at www.ci.austin.tx.us/wallercreek.

$2.5 Million for Zilker Park

C3 Presents, Inc., producers of the Austin City Limits Music Festival announced September 9, 2008, that they will donate $2.5 M to the Austin Parks Foundation to pay for Zilker Soccer Field improvements. This 42 acre site is where ACLMF takes place. Beginning in January 2009, the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Dept will level the field, install a complete irrigation system and lay down grass sod on the entire site.

The city approved advancing the funds to do the work this year, and APF will reimburse the city via donations from C3 Presents, Inc. over the next few years. The work will not affect other areas at Zilker Park, such as the hike and bike trail.

Guerrero-Colorado River Park Phase 1 Project Out for Bid

Beginning on July 28, 2008, the City of Austin began advertising for bids for the estimated $5.6 M phase 1 of the Guerrero-Colorado River Park, the last major project to be funded with 1998 park bond funds. Bids are due from contractors on September 11, 2008. The base scope of work includes extensive picnic, playscape, shelters and the Roy Guerrero Memorial, the Great Lawn, additional parking as well as restoration of portions of Country Club Creek. More details as we hear about them.

Construction of Bike Lanes on Barton Springs Road in Zilker Park Begins

Construction began June 30, 2008, on five-foot bicycle lanes along both sides of Barton Springs Road within Zilker Park, beginning west of the Barton Creek Bridge, extending west under the Loop 1 overpass and terminating near Rollingwood Drive.

Construction will take place Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. and will generally progress in segments east to west along Barton Springs Road, working on one side of the road only to minimize traffic impact. The project is scheduled to be complete in early December, 2008, before the Trail of Lights. Additionally, the contractor will suspend construction activities for the Austin City Limits Festival in the fall.

Known as the Barton Springs Bike Lanes Project, work will also include the relocation of traffic signals and the construction of pervious (porous) concrete walkways and associated drainage and landscaping. The walkways will be set back from the roadway to protect pedestrians from vehicular traffic and will be routed around existing trees and historic features.

Lance Armstrong Bikeway Project Gets Moving

The portion of the Lance Armstrong Bikeway between Lamar Blvd and Veterans Blvd is now complete and open to the public. The portion connecting Shoal Creek Trail to the railroad bridge just east of Sand Beach/ Sandra Muraida Way is also complete, but there is a gap between the railroad bridge and the Lamar St. bridge that has not been completed, pending the re-routing of Sandra Muraida Way. This phase is expected to be completed by the end of October, 2008.

The next phases of the Lance Armstrong Bikeway connecting via Shoal Creek Trail through Downtown are in the later stages of design and are expected to be bid out later this year.

Work on the long-awaited Lance Armstrong Bikeway Project began May 29, 2007. The project, a six-mile bikeway that began as an idea in 1999, will enable bicyclists to travel on a dedicated east-west route through downtown.

The completed bikeway will extend from Veterans Dr. at Lake Austin Blvd. on the west side of town to the Montopolis Bridge at US183 on the east side. The path consists of a combination of off-street concrete trails, on-street striped bike lanes, and on-street signed bike routes. Visit the City of Austin Bicycle and Pedestrian Program website for more information.

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