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Why It’s Bull****: The Waller Creek Tunnel Inlet Is Too Tall

Jude Galligan | July 7, 2014 |

Had the weekend to catch up on some old news, and this issue of the Waller Creek Tunnel inlet being too tall smelled foolish from the first I heard about it.

Kudos to the Statesman’s Sarah Coppola for the revealing a potential $45mm fix to reduce the height of the Waller Creek Tunnel Inlet would be wasted money since the Texas State Library and Archives Commission is already blocking the view.

Say what?! That’s right. “Fixing” the inlet structure to be fully compliant with the CVC will not regain any view! An existing government building is blocking the view already.

The Waller Creek Tunnel Inlet is under construction in Waterloo Park. This is the business end of the tunnel construction which was on target for completion in mid-2015.

It was almost two years when the tunnel’s under ground dig was passing beneath the Sabine.

I remain optimistic that elected officials at the local and state level will apply reason, rather than force the taxpayers to pay to bring the inlet into CVC “compliance.”

source: Statesman.com

Filed Under: downtown austin, waller creek

Waller Creek design up-to-bat for council approval

Jude Galligan | June 17, 2013 |

An inspired master plan design for Waller Creek is inching closer to reality.  It’s on the agenda for City Council this Thursday.  It is a big step in a project I am a big fan of, and will be another transformative measure to propel Austin into the next 100 years.

You may vaguely remember news from six months ago, or so, about city council approving a plan for Waller Creek.  What actually happened is City Council approved the design team, from a national competition, but not their design plan.

Here is a PDF of the design plan. (use this backup link if that doesn’t work).  If you are super interested, you can watch a presentation made to city council last week like I did. (skip to 11:00 to bypass city council doldrums.)

The plan is rather broad for council to be approving wholesale, but it appears linked to getting donors who are comfortable cutting big checks.

Highlights of the plan:

  1. Build an outdoor concert stage — called the Poppy — at Waterlook Park just south of where the new Dell Medical Hospital will be built..
  2. Connect a bunch of trails and mini-bridges over the creek, connecting the Rainey Street District into the greater downtown area.
  3. Remove/replace the Austin Police Department headquarters.
  4. Build a pontoon bridge connecting to the south shore of Lady Bird Lake, which will swing from 12 O’Clock position – connecting the shores – to a 9 O’Clock position in order to open the water for boats.

If you’ve read this far, and are like “What the heck is Waller Creek?” here is a crude cheat sheet:

  1. There is a creek in downtown Austin, on the west side of I-35 stretching from the river (lake) to UT-Austin campus, which is prone to flooding when it rains.  So the properties surrounding it represent a large economic development opportunity.
  2. The city is spending large sums of money, which no one disagrees with, to dig a huge tunnel deep underground, which will act as a drain for the floodwater, thus making it cool to redevelop the creek area.
  3. A new conservancy was formed for stewardship and to raise money for grade level improvements, and held a national competition, and a firm based in Brooklyn, NYC won.
  4. The design firm, the conservancy and the city are signing a legal agreement to more or less turn the Waller Creek District over to the conservancy, with the usual city checks and balances, etc.
  5. This project is coinciding with the new Dell Medical School and adjacent development near the Erwin Center, along with a vaguely outlined “innovation district” along the east side of the State Capitol Complex.

Filed Under: downtown austin, waller creek

Underground: Let’s Walk The Waller Creek Tunnel (VIDEO)

Jude Galligan | August 30, 2012 |

As a member of the now defunct Waller Creek Citizens Advisory Committee and a past resident at the Sabine condos with a view directly over the excavation site, I’ve seen planning for Waller Creek evolve over the years.

Earlier this week, Matt Parkerson in Council Member Riley’s office, invited me to join them on a tour of the tunnel. I jumped at the opportunity.

The logistics of mining under a city is fascinating. The tunnel diameter tapers wide from 20 feet to 26 feet in diameter as it approaches the outlet at Lady Bird Lake. The pace of progress is about 15 feet per day. Dump trucks make somewhere around 75 trips per day.

We entered the tunnel between 4th and 5th Streets. Once inside the tunnel we walked to the end of their progress, currently, just below Iron Works BBQ.

Once the mining is complete, the exposed limestone will be coated with concrete. Cost to construct the tunnel: $105 million.

If you’ve ever seen Discovery Channel special on how NYC subways were bored, know this is not like that.  There is no giant spinning disc cutting through the earth. Compared to Manhattan granite, this Texas limestone cuts like butter. Like an old dot matrix printer, the boring head cuts away limestone with each back and forth pass.

As an aside: everybody on the tour was thinking the same thing. Why couldn’t we do this for a subway? Well, we can. One of the contractors shared (off-camera) that Austin’s limestone is [actually] perfectly suited for mining a subway tunnel and wondered why the city has not pursued that with more enthusiasm. The length of Waller Creek tunnel is roughly the same length to get from I-35 to Lamar Blvd. An identical tunnel for similar cost could support a subway to traverse east-west through downtown.

Thanks to Council Member Riley and his staff for the invitation!

Filed Under: austin news, Austin photos, images, urban planning, waller creek

Waller Creek Update Reveals Actual Tunnels!

Jude Galligan | January 5, 2012 |

waller creek 2012 update

Today the City of Austin released the latest issue of Waller Creek Tunnel Project Updates.  Don’t yawn – just check out the pics of real tunnels – under downtown Austin!

OK, so the massive middle-earth boring machine shown on page two is stock footage, but I confirmed with Carolyn Perez that the other photos are indeed from Waller Creek improvements, which is great to see.  

Combined with the parallel Sabine Street promenade effort and earnestness of the eponymous Conservancy, the Waller Creek District is becoming the most exciting part of downtown Austin to watch.

You can download the newsletter here: Waller Creek – winter 2012 newsletter (pdf)

Filed Under: downtown austin, waller creek

Waller Creek Groundbreaking Ceremony

Jude Galligan | April 8, 2011 |

waller creek tunnel ground breaking ceremony

Just got back from the ground breaking ceremony for Downtown Austin’s Waller Creek Tunnel project.  Not long ago Austin City Council officially adopted the Waller Creek District Master Plan (link).  This groundbreaking is milestone in downtown Austin’s revitalization.  The tunnel is expected to be completed in 2014, at which point 28 acres of downtown land [Read more…] about Waller Creek Groundbreaking Ceremony

Filed Under: downtown austin, waller creek

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