Mobility Committee briefing outlines progress and funding gaps in sidewalks and urban trails program

Since issuing a major facelift to Austin’s urban trail and sidewalk plans late last year, Transportation and Public Works Department staffers are following up with City Council, stopping by last month’s Mobility Committee meeting for a progress update.

The plan calls for 810 miles of new sidewalk infrastructure and 740 miles of shared street solutions, with the goal of completing all highest and high priority projects by 2033. Hitting that target would translate to 340 miles of new sidewalks and 200 miles of shared street projects over the next decade, with a price tag of approximately $32 million per year.

Plans for the city’s urban trail network are equally ambitious, with 268 miles of envisioned projects divided into three tiers of priority. The plan calls for completing the highest-tier projects, totaling 94 miles of urban trails, by 2043.

In the six months since the plans were updated, staffers with the city’s Transportation and Public Works Department say they have completed about 20 miles worth of sidewalk construction and repair, with 26 crews actively working on projects. Still, they are hampered by budget constraints and may need to eye funding sources like voter-approved bonds, federal grants and new pay-to-park districts to bridge the gap.

“The 2023 plan sets ambitious goals for our sidewalk network that will require nearly doubling the existing $16 million in funding for rehabilitation work,” program manager Justin Norvell said. “To complete all very high- and high-priority gaps in the pedestrian network in the next 10 years would require another 50 percent increase to our existing new sidewalks budget.”

Staff is also hammering away at updates to the city’s urban trail network, with 38 miles of projects currently at varying stages of progress. Farthest along are a 2.9-mile trail connecting Walter E. Long Park to the city of Manor, as well as the wishbone bridge project at Longhorn Shores and Canterbury Park, set to begin construction later this summer with the help of federal grant money.

Again, funding is the looming issue, with the city $92 million short of the $152 million needed to complete work on multiphase projects like the Walnut Creek  and Red Line trails currently in the design and engineering stages.

Also on the city’s plate is downtown’s Seaholm District, which received $12.5 million in funding late last year to tackle the area’s mobility challenges. Plans include a new sidewalk along Cesar Chavez Street between Sandra Muraida Way and San Antonio Street, as well as improvements to the Third Street and West Avenue intersection and connections to the Shoal Creek Trail, though the latter are still in their design phases. 

“The intersection of Third Street and West Avenue is an area that can be a little confusing,” Division Manager Laura Dierenfield said. “We’re looking to reorganize that space to create that intuitive, comfortable and connected east-west movement. … We’ll be taking some of those ideas to the community later this summer to explore some options.”

Staff is also eyeing ideas for an expanded Third Street pedestrian and bike bridge, with aspirations to incorporate the historic trestle bridge that has sat abandoned since the 1990s.

Readers can stay up to date on ongoing and upcoming projects via the city’s sidewalk program and urban trails interactive web maps.

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