Public Input Sought For Cypress & Shoal Creek Enhancements Plan

AUSTIN, TX — Officials want residents' input ahead of enhancements to the Cypress & Shoal Creek public space, officials said Monday.

Officials are asking for community input on the design concepts and strategy. The Shoal Creek Conservancy, in partnership with the Downtown Austin Alliance, the City of Austin and others released a draft of the enhancements. The public input period originally set until month's end subsequently was extended to Feb. 14.

The plan aims to enhance the area around 3rd Street and Shoal Creek. It will be made safer, further connected and more inviting through better bikeways, new trail connections and pedestrian plazas woven together with urban greenery, officials explained.

“This is the gateway to significant communal and cultural spots, including the Central Library and the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail," Dewitt Peart, president and CEO of the Downtown Austin Alliance, said in a prepared statement. "To ensure that all Austinites can visit these places, we must make it easier and safer to reach by foot, bike or bus, as well as make it simpler to navigate once you have arrived. The Downtown Austin Alliance is pleased to help move this project closer to reality, and we look forward to hearing from the community.”

Ten Eyck Landscape Architects will finalize designs for the space, create cost estimates and recommend phasing strategies for each element of the project, according to an advisory.

“One of our most important goals is to make connections between Shoal Creek and other trails and parks throughout the city,” Ivey Kaiser, executive director of Shoal Creek Conservancy, said. “Cypress & Shoal Creek lies at the intersection of the Shoal Creek Trail and the Lance Armstrong Bikeway (LAB), so this is a great opportunity to complete the east-west LAB connection, where there is currently a major gap, and improve the overall trail network. The opportunity for relaxation and the connection to wildlife, the creek and the rehabilitated trestle is another game-changer for this part of downtown Austin.”

Improvements to the Cypress & Shoal Creek project were community-identified priorities in the 2018 Shoal Creek Trail Plan, according to the advisory. These improvements include the creation of a series of public plazas along 3rd Street from Nueces to Seaholm Drive, ecological restoration, way-finding signage and trail and bikeway connectivity projects, officials detailed.

For more information, read the Cypress & Shoal Creek Public Space Strategy draft.