Last night, I arrived to a packed house at the Austin Parks and Recreation office on south Lamar, for a joint subcommittee meeting of the Park board and the Environmental board. Two important items were on the agenda, but from the looks of the sign-in sheets, the vast majority in the audience of over 50 people had come for news about the Lady Bird Lake Boardwalk Trail.

In fact, the first item on the agenda was a much better known item, the Barton Springs Master Plan. Amazingly, only two people signed up to speak about the springs.

A Long Time Coming

Some Austinites have been waiting literally decades for Lady Bird Johnson’s vision of a complete trail around the lake to be fulfilled. For years, there has been a 1.2-mile gap in the southeastern section of the trail system. Last spring, the City Council approved funding for an initial design to be developed for completing the loop, and now, this spring, we will have the chance to see what’s been proposed. Jacobs Engineering is the company working on the proposed design. The estimated cost of completing the boardwalk is $12 million at the moment, although this could change depending on how much distance the trail has to traverse over water, for example. Of that estimated cost,  so far $1.8 million has been allocated for the design process and another $2.5 million has been reserved for construction, transferred from another city project.

The City of Austin has a website dedicated to information and updates on the project, with a little bit more background information, along with times and locations of upcoming public meetings for anyone wanting to get involved in the process.

Portland, Anyone?

A section showing the boardwalk extended over Lady Bird Lake

As can be seen in this section inset above, because of a variety of issues from ADA accessibility and the slope of the land to crossing private property, the initially proposed boardwalk trail plan will go over land and water where needed. Some parts may be reminiscent of similar projects around the country,

Portland's Eastbank Esplanade. Photo: City of Portland

like Portland’s Eastbank Esplanade (which is in fact similar in length to our project, and completed for similar reasons), along with Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Riverfront Park Extension.

Personally, I feel like this project could be another new iconic space in the city, just like our recently completed Butler Park near the Palmer Auditorium.

Coming soon to a waterfront near you?

Landscaping at Butler Park

According to the presenters, a more fully developed initial design concept will be presented in the next few weeks. When things are more final, we will post an update with more information on what may go forward. Several areas along the proposed boardwalk are going to take time to address, in order to meet neighbors’ concerns along the waterfront. In particular, renters and owners at the Waterfront Condominiums at 1818 South Lakeshore were very concerned about the potential loss of their view of downtown and boat access, and this had brought many residents out to speak at the meeting.

I’m hoping things can be worked out amongst all parties to make something really great for our city, and finish this much-needed part of the trail loop for both recreation and commuting.