City makes Barton Springs Road safety improvements ahead of pilot
Wednesday, July 19, 2023 by
Emma Freer The city recently began work on a series of safety improvements to the crash-prone stretch of Barton Springs Road between Stratford Drive – inside Zilker Park – and South Lamar Boulevard, ahead of a yearlong pilot program that has prompted a mixed response.
The improvements include a reduction to one westbound lane between Azie Morton and Lou Neff roads, upgraded transit stops and the addition of protected bike lanes and new sidewalks, according to the city’s open data portal.
“Recognizing the corridor’s east-west connection between MoPac (Expressway) and South Lamar Boulevard, the proposed design is expected to maintain motor vehicle capacity while improving safety for all users of the street and access for people walking, rolling, and taking transit,” the project background reads.
Photo courtesy of City of Austin. The city recently began work on a series of safety improvements to this crash-prone stretch of Barton Springs Road between Stratford Drive and South Lamar Boulevard.
Primarily funded through the 2020 safety and active transportation bond, the $700,000 pilot is part of the city’s Vision Zero plan to reduce the number of people hurt or killed by crashes. It builds on previous incremental changes, such as reducing the speed limit from 35 mph to 30 mph in December.
Between May 2018 and April 2023, 47 people sustained injuries – 11 serious – from crashes on this particular segment of Barton Springs Road, which is just under a mile long, according to the city’s virtual open house devoted to the project. In April 2022, a speeding driver collided with another vehicle, sending it into a crowd of pedestrians and resulting in 10 serious injuries.
The city’s Transportation and Public Works Department began construction on the safety improvements earlier this week, according to a July 13 memo from interim Director Richard Mendoza to City Council. Work is expected to continue through late August and then pause until Austin City Limits Music Festival is cleared from Zilker Park. Work will then resume in late October and is projected to wrap up by early 2024.
The construction process follows a month of community engagement, including an online survey that generated approximately 1,630 responses, in-person events and direct conversations with interested parties like the Austin Fire Department and ACL Fest organizers, according to the memo.
Supporters touted the pilot’s emphasis on bicyclist and pedestrian safety, while opponents worried about worsening traffic congestion due to the lane change, according to a July 13 Transportation and Public Works Department newsletter.
This tracks with members of the Zilker Neighborhood Association, which hasn’t taken a formal position on the pilot.
“In our neighborhood, I think feelings are very mixed,” Robin Rather, the association’s vice president of parks and environment, told the Austin Monitor.
She said some members are “incredulous” about the pilot and worry about resident drivers feeling “really locked in.” But others, especially the “biker bros” contingent, welcome the safety improvements.
“It’s not a safe road if you’re not in a car,” she said.
Felicity Maxwell, a board member of the local urbanist group AURA and a Zilker neighborhood resident, commended the pilot, which she described as ambitious compared to the city’s usual approach to safety improvements.
“Reworking road widths and the number of lanes on a road like this … is a little bit more controversial and a little bit more forward than what we’ve seen,” she told the Monitor.
For Maxwell, the benefits for bikers, pedestrians and other park users far outweigh any consequences for drivers, including herself.
“The reality is, if the roads are narrower and you can’t go as quickly, people will choose alternate routes,” she said.
The city made several adjustments to the pilot based on community feedback, according to the memo, such as:
- Allowing emergency vehicles to use bike lanes during emergency calls.
- Moving bus stop locations to ease vehicle traffic and emergency access.
- Using a combination of flex posts and mounted barriers for protected bike lanes “to minimize visual clutter.”
- Changing the construction schedule to accommodate ACL Fest.
City staff will begin evaluating the pilot six months after all the safety improvements have been completed, relying on community feedback as well as pre- and post-implementation data on metrics such as crash severity and driver speed.
Maxwell is looking to major events – like ACL Fest, Blues on the Green and the ABC Kite Fest – as a test of the pilot’s success in easing park access and encouraging bike and pedestrian use. She also believes it could serve as “a model for future projects.”
This is top of mind, as the pilot is related to other ongoing efforts in the area, including the more controversial Zilker Park Vision Plan and proposed improvements to the Barton Springs Road bridge at the park entrance.
Photo by Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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