downtown Austin's real estate and neighborhood blog
Nine months after the plan was announced, this week they begin the parking improvements to 6th Street that will result in angles “back in” style parking. This is a shift from parallel parking found on most of W 6th. This has been espoused as a safer method of parking when trying to facilitate a major east-west artery, bike lane, and retail parking.
There’s a new way to be heard and see what others are saying about transportation in Austin. Since the urban core of a large and fast growing city like Austin needs effective transportation, every Downtown Austin Blog reader should also get snapping.
SNAPPatx – Social Networking and Planning Project in Austin, TX – began with UT students sitting around a table talking about how to give students a better way get involved in transportation decisions that mean so much for the their lives in Austin. These students, the City of Austin’s Department of Transportation, and Alliance for Public Transportation coordinated with Texas Citizen Fund to applied for and won a Federal Transit Administration PTP grant to innovate the use of social media as an easier and more convenient option for engaging Austin’s Strategic Mobility Planning (ASMP).
SNAPP focuses communications specifically toward some of the population segments least likely to show up to traditional planning meetings, e.g., younger adults/students, adults with young families, and seniors.
How SNAPPatx functions
SNAPP coordinates with the City of Austin, and other information resources, to develop and push out timely information about issues and decisions related to Strategic Mobility Planning.
SNAPP actively encourages discussion by:
Finally, SNAPP analyzes all of these comments for type of comment, themes, topics, trends and sentiment. Specific “gaps” identified are sent directly to the City to become part of their gaps database. A detailed report on trends, topics, and themes is provided to the Strategic Mobility Plan staff and contractors as additional input into the planning process. And, the analysis of trends, themes, and topic is pushed back out into the SNAPP conversation as well.
Start snapping today
The clock is ticking. SNAPPatx has only months to show the world that Austin figure out how to use social media as a handy way to make a difference in planning – Austin Strategic Mobility Plan to be specific. So we need you to connect with us by:
Follow us on Twitter
Become a fan on Facebook
Or just go through our website for e-mail or blog connections.
Connecting is the easiest way for you to see information as well as things your neighbors are saying about transportation, and then to contribute your own ideas and thoughts.
The re-utilization of downtown Austin’s Seaholm Power Plant will happen. When? Not soon. Why? No $$$. No surprise.
However, at Wednesday evening’s Parks Commission meeting, CM Chris Riley shared the opportunity to adapt the Seaholm intake structure (which sits on the lake) into something usable and complimentary to the trail.
An ordinance passed in 1985 required facilities such as this, owned by the city, immediately become park land upon termination or cessation of their existing uses. Hence… PARD controls these buildings.
Furthermore, the 1987 Town Lake Park Comprehensive Plan states: “…the building south of W. First Street that houses the cooling water intake for the power plant is ideally situated for conversion to lakeside dining.” It goes on to suggest: “A water taxi stop will give additional access.”
OK, this is getting interesting, right?
PARD is strapped for cash, and PARD director Sarah Hensley is a progressive force. There is reason to be optimistic that something can happen here, and we’re not going to have to wait 10 years to see it realized.
According to CM Riley, the use should be contextual, and specifically cater to the myriad people using the trail. I understood this as concessionaires and open seating, rather than a proper restaurant as might be inferred from the plan. This makes sense, considering there is little/no room for additional parking here. Not a bad thing, IMO.
How can you help? Keep the discussion moving, and share the idea with your friends. Send a note to city council that you want to see these buildings put to public use.
-Jude
Part 2 of 2 Parts (click here to read Part 1 – The Overview of the project and its design)
1. It is not a “boardwalk”. Look closely. It is an elevated concrete human highway. 14-feet wide, 6-feet above the water, up to 70 feet out from shore. Built of concrete and steel. Out over the open waters of our beautiful and naturally pristine lake/river.
2. Cheaper alternatives exist. Either fully on land, closer to land, or a combination of both. With specifications that start with the minimum specs of the existing Trail: the Hyatt Regency segment, 5 to 6 feet wide, between the First Street and Congress Avenue bridges. This CAN be built across nearly the entire 1.2 mile stretch. For far less cost. However the necessary analysis and conceptual design work has never been done. The necessary conversations have never been had.
3. The “full project cost” could actually be over $20 million. Nearly $4.3 million has already been allocated toward consultants and design over the past two years out of existing city budgets of which $2.4 million has been spent or obligated to date. Plus the $16 million more now sought for construction. All for 1.2 miles of roadway. This road should be paved with gold.
4. This project does not “complete” the trail gap. It will lead users east along the shoreline to the Longhorn Dam. That dam has a narrow and dangerous sidewalk crossing – where two strollers can barely pass each other over the Dam – alongside heavy traffic flow on Pleasant Valley Road. Clearly a “Pfluger-style” pedestrian bridge needs to be built parallel to the west side of the dam. A very expensive bridge. Then there is another “gap” on the North Shore around the former Holly Power Plant. Those segments? Not addressed.
5. The cleverly packaged and named “Boardwalk” is itself a hazardous solution for the need it is trying to fill and the improved safety it is attempting to yield. True, the existing sidewalk-based trail routing along Riverside Drive has a challenging crossing at IH-35 and some close proximity to road traffic. Interestingly, though, no ped-bike-vehicle accidents statistics have ever been produced. Folks know they must be very careful getting through there. But the 14-foot wide Boardwalk over-design intentionally promotes high-speed, two-abreast, bicycle traffic…in two directions…out over the open river waters…in direct conflict with pedestrians, strollers, wheelchairs, dog-walkers, and others who would also be on the same pathway. There is nowhere to jump out of the way of danger. There is no easy way to reach injured parties. There is no shade out in the open water.
Some folks have been asking how this project came to be? Good question. Please read on…
[Read more…] about 5 MAJOR ISSUES OF CONCERN ABOUT THE “BOARDWALK” PROJECT
PROJECT BACKGROUND & FACT SHEET
In 2004, a diverse group of citizens, businesses, and neighborhood leaders formed the I-35 Makeover Coalition to help transform this area into a public asset. They began working for a safe, clean and attractive gateway reconnecting downtown to East Austin. This area was a broad boulevard called Eastside Drive until postwar era, when IH-35 was built over it in a series of elevated and buried sections.
The Makeover Coalition provided the support necessary to improve this connection between downtown and the east side of Austin. The coalition obtained a grant of $250,000 from Keep Austin Beautiful (KAB) to help fund the landscape portion.
City Council approved two funding sources for this project. They first approved a resolution in March, 2005 explicitly supporting the use of parking revenue from the City-managed IH-35 parking lots for the IH-35 Makeover Project. In March of 2007, City Council passed a resolution setting aside $1.5 million to be provided by the future issuance of non-tax supported certificates of obligation.
These funding sources have allowed the City to move forward with the IH-35 Makeover Project, which will include reconstructing the parking lot areas, with curb and gutters to improve drainage in the area. The concrete will be cleaned, signs removed and replaced, and specialty lighting fixtures will enhance the safety, comfort, and aesthetics of the area.
The lighting project will be done through the City’s Art in Public Places Program and will be programmed LED lights in arches over the parking lots. A computer-generated illumination will create a show as well as create safe lighting.
The project is expected to start in June and take approximately seven months, at which time TXDot will begin the landscape improvements funded through the KAB grant.
More of DAB’s coverage of the I-35 Makeover
