City Plans to Restore Part of the Greenbelt

The J.J. Seabrook Greenbelt Park in East Austin is easily missed when driving down the street. The park tends to be overwhelmed with foot traffic, and visitors have struggled with a lack of available seating and sidewalks.

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The city is trying to change that. Officials are currently working on restoring the 900-foot creek that runs through the park by adding rain gardens and focusing on erosion control. Developers are also working on reconfiguring intersections and streets along the area to reduce vehicular speed through the neighborhood. Initially, the project was set to be fully initiated three months ago, but it was delayed due to an excess of wet weather earlier in the year.

In August, a bike and pedestrian bridge opened up right over the creek. Visitors will also have new walking paths available to keep the green space together.

“I’m pretty excited about the changes,” regular park visitor Taylor Henderson told Patch. “The efforts they’ve already made have been pretty positive, so I’m looking forward to more improvements.”

The project cost to restore J.J. Seabrook Park is about $2.3 million.