The Confluence marks next phase for Waterloo Greenway parks system

Wednesday’s groundbreaking of the Confluence – the second phase of the ambitious Waterloo Greenway effort – marks the latest move in the city’s work to revitalize the area around Waller Creek and turn the frequently flooded waterway into a community asset and magnet for development.

The new portion stretches from Fourth Street south to Lady Bird Lake and will feature three pedestrian suspension bridges, canopied walkways and east-west connection points, a boardwalk along Cesar Chavez Street and more than 200,000 new plants and mature trees. The Confluence follows the 2021 opening of Waterloo Park, which through a combination of community programming and concerts at the Moody Amphitheater has seen more than 400,000 visitors since it opened.

Jesús Aguirre, CEO of Waterloo Greenway, said fundraising efforts continue to bring in the $10 million remaining of the $91.5 million project. Thus far, the Greenway Conservancy has raised $12 million, with the city contributing $27 million from a tax increment reinvestment zone created to cover Greenway costs. Additional funding has come from the Parks and Recreation Department, the Watershed Protection Department and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Aguirre said the conservancy’s job is to work with construction firm Jay-Reese Contractors Inc. to realize the vision approved by City Council in 2018, with a priority given to improving the water quality in the creek. A primary component in the storm water management for the area is the Waller Creek Tunnel, a $161 million public works project created to prevent flooding in a substantial portion of downtown that is now safe for development.

“Our role in partnership with (the city) is to be designing, building, constructing, and then operating and maintaining on their behalf. With the Waterloo Park section, we were lead in managing the construction, and with the Confluence the Watershed Protection Department is a little more engaged than they have been just because there’s some real clear connections to the water quality there,” he said. “That’s their key mission and focus so it’ll be a similar process as it was with Waterloo in that we’re working hand in hand, but in this case the city is holding the contract with Jay-Reese. They’re the official project managers, and then we are working with them as part of the ownership team.”

As the Confluence moves forward, project leaders will soon begin the public engagement phase for the portion between 12th and Fourth streets. Aguirre said the topology of that portion of downtown and the mix of land uses along the creek could make it something of a challenge to complete.

“That is a pretty complex area of the creek with lots of things going on both in terms of the creek itself, but also the buildings and the development,” he said. “We’ll be taking that initial concept design, that vision that was approved, and start to hone in on what it’s actually going to look like once we start building.”

Beyond the boundaries of the Greenway, many other changes are underway or in the planning stages, with the Palm Park District, continuing development of the Rainey Street district, the eventual reconstruction of the Austin Convention Center and the overhaul of Interstate 35 playing into how the series of parks along Waller Creek will serve downtown as a whole.

Aguirre said the Palm Park plan and the future of the Palm School, which is owned by Travis County, are the nearby projects that will have the most influence on the Greenway.

“Our role has been just to stay as engaged as possible with whatever planning is happening, whether it’s with the convention center or even the Palm District,” he said. “We want to make sure folks know that that is part of this area, and some of it is very technical coordination with construction with both private developers as well as when the city is coming in. Obviously the convention center will have to be coordinated and so that’s our main role there, and we are very interested and want to stay engaged with what happens, for example, with the I-35 project, with TxDOT and the possibility of having some caps in that area.”

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Posted In: Parks, District 9