A closer look at the park spaces included in Waterloo Greenway phase two

The city’s Parks and Recreation Board learned more this week about the park spaces included in the next construction phase of the Waterloo Greenway.

Phase two, which kicks off this spring, will focus on the 14 acres along Waller Creek between Lady Bird Lake and Fourth Street known as the Confluence.

The board was provided with information about design aspects of the upcoming construction during an update provided by staff from Parks and Recreation, Public Works, Watershed Protection and the Waterloo Greenway Conservancy at its March 27 regular meeting.

“There’s the aspects of the project that really focus on the restoration, connectivity and mobility, but also there’s lots of unique individual park spaces as you move along this section,” said John Rigdon of the Waterloo Greenway Conservancy.

The new Cypress Grove and Trailhead Plaza connecting the Lance Armstrong Bikeway, the Downtown Rail Station and the Austin Convention Center to Waller Creek will include the planting of more than two dozen bald cypress trees. Rigdon said it will bring the Central Texas landscape “into the heart of the city.”

At the southernmost section of the project, crews will create a lagoon overlook and leaf deck. The project will replace the existing bridge with one that is more accessible, while reusing the footing of the existing bridge to create an observation deck that looks out onto the water.

“So you’ll be able to safely engage with your families, your friends, with the turtles, the birds, and everything else that’s beautiful about this section,” Rigdon said.

Additionally, a space below the current bridge will be transformed into a space for outdoor classrooms, citizen science and “just engaging directly with the landscape of the creek and the lake.”

Farther north will be the new Lakeview Terrace and Explorer’s Garden. Immediately off of Butler Trail, an elevated plaza will offer views of the lake and opportunities for watching bats in the evening.

Adjacent to the terrace will be the Explorer’s Garden, which is a dry creek bed garden. Rigdon said it will be a shaded area for parkgoers to directly interact with the Central Texas dry creek bed landscape. The area will also serve as an event space for programming and other activities.

There is also an area of the creek known as the Bend, which was established in the early 1900s to straighten the creek. Prior to that, the creek went around Palm Park and out toward the interstate. “Now that we have the flood control tunnel in place, we can really invite people down into the creek,” Rigdon said.

After the construction, Palm Park will gently slope to meet the creek instead of stopping 20 to 30 feet above it.

“So this will keep folks off of the streets and safely down on the creek trails and also allow people to engage directly with the creek, the shade, the sounds of the creek, and the environment around there,” Rigdon said. “A much more pleasant experience moving through the city.”

Construction will begin this spring. That means fences will start going up around the project in the next couple of months.

The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.