The City’s Consultant, ROMA Design Group, is putting the finishing touches on a draft master plan for the Waller Creek District. The Consultant will present the plan to the public at a Town Hall meeting hosted by the Waller Creek Citizen Advisory Committee.
Waller Creek District Master Plan Town Hall
April 7, 2010 6:00-8:30 pm
Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) Auditorium
600 River Street, Austin TX 78702
Light refreshments will be served.Public input gathered will be used to finalize the draft Master Plan before it is taken to boards and commissions, the Planning Commission and to Austin City Council for approval. The meeting is the final step in a series of public outreach efforts that the City has conducted over the last year. The plan has been posted online at: http://www.wallercreekplan.org
Archives for 2010
Two Bike Boulevards! Draft Released
“The staff recommends that both Rio Grande Street and Nueces Street together, in the northwest district of the downtown, be designated as the Downtown Bicycle Boulevard with no traffic calming tools implemented on Nueces Street.”
Two streets, rather than one, could receive improvements to facilitate the mobility of bikes and cars. City Staff heard the massive amount of discussion about Rio Grande being a better option. According to the memo to Council (pdf), Rio Grande currently carries 24% less traffic than Nueces.
After the comments by Rob D’amico and the League of Bicycle Voters, it was easy to be discouraged that the eventual proposal would be too watered down. Now, we have the actual proposal – thick with feedback from all stakeholders. As someone that lives and works downtown Austin, and having read through the draft, I’m happy with the recommended improvements. A few highlights:
Rio Grande:
- Parking in front of Wahoos would become “back in” angled parking
- New hike and bike bridge over Shoal Creek @ 4th Street
- Parking along Rio Grande remains largely unchanged
- An array of traffic circles, medians with speed cushions, speed cushions, and pedestrian curb-extensions
Nueces:
- Great Streets from 3rd to 7th on Nueces.
- Install sharrows from 7th to 13th
- Replace parking on one side of the street with enhance bicycle lanes.
The recommended speed limit through out the project is 25mph. Slower is better, IMO, and hopefully the proposed round-a-bouts on Rio Grande will help improve traffic flow, compared to the stop signs currently there.
In summary, these recommendations are light touches. This isn’t an expensive project. This will not be a promenade, and it was never intended to be that way.
-Jude
Social Cycling In Downtown Austin
Kudos to these guys for last week’s successful fund raising campaign. Those funds will go towards rides like this. The first ride is called “Taste of Downtown” and will meet up this Saturday at 1:30 at BoConcept.
Austin on Two Wheels is teaming up with Keith Byrd from Social Cycling ATX to put on the Discover the City on Two Wheels Spring Urban Living Ride Series. We will be offering three exceptional social rides in April that highlight the best of what Austin has to offer: Taste of Downtown Tour, Pampered Pedal Ride, and Boggy Creek Farm Picnic Ride.
These rides are part of the test for a new concept bike store in Austin dedicated to the simple pleasure of riding with friends, not competition or workouts. In addition to these unique rides, we will have some great Dutch bikes and cargo bikes to test ride while you’re there. We’ll be giving away some gift certificates from cool local business to participants who help us with feedback on this project plus everyone who gives us feedback will be entered into a drawing for an Electra Amsterdam Royal 8 at the end of the series.
All rides will leave from our ride host BoConcept at 430 W 2nd St.
Shoal Creek Walk Moves Through Planning Commission
Schlosser Development’s Shoal Creek Walk concept, to be located where a large surface level parking lot currently exists, has agreed to include an affordable housing component (in addition to $2.3MM in green-scaping concessions) in order to receive the Planning Commission’s recommendation for a height variance to 350 ft. The building is intended primarily as an office tower, but has included 90 residential units at the top. Schlosser may pay a $3 per foot (for all area greater than 687,000 ft) fee in lieu of actually building the affordable dwellings.
Picture Of The Day
