With ownership of the historic trestle bridge on Third Street still unresolved, the city of Austin has hired engineering firm HDR to explore possible options for rehabilitating the century-old structure.
The debate over whether the city or Union Pacific controls the bridge has dragged on for years but, by most accounts, the city and its partners have clearly invested the most time and money toward preserving the trestle for future generations.
Last week, the Downtown Commission heard the latest on the bridge’s fate during a Shoal Creek Conservancy presentation on the Cypress and Shoal Creek Public Space Strategy, a plan to make the area around Third Street and Shoal Creek more welcoming and better connected. (Third Street was originally known as Cypress Creek.)
Daniel Kavelman, projects and policy manager for the Shoal Creek Conservancy, told commissioners that because ownership remains uncertain, the city and HDR are hesitant to provide a public timeline for what would ultimately become a complex and expensive undertaking.
“Currently, the city of Austin is working to negotiate ownership of the trestle, and until (ownership is established) it’s not really appropriate to move forward with a bunch of alternatives for designing and rehabilitating this asset when it’s not 100 percent clear that the city has complete ownership,” Kavelman said.
Listed in the National Registry of Historic Places, the trestle bridge is a favorite of residents and visitors to this western area of Downtown near Seaholm, the central library, and the Shoal Creek trail.
Ted Eubanks, an interpretive planner and city Parks and Recreation Board member speaking in his own behalf, told the commission that the trestle “is the last iconic structure that remains” from one of the earliest turning points in the city’s history.
“We may be a leader in many things. We’re not a leader in historic preservation,” he said. “I’ve worked in many, many cities around the world and that’s just not one of our strengths. What we do have are a few historical sites and resources left that are worthy of being preserved and one of those is the railroad trestle” that in 1871 marked the beginning of Austin as a city, he said.
Commissioners appeared receptive to Eubanks’ comments. “I just want to say that, as not only a member of this commission but as a member of the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association and the (Downtown Austin Alliance’s) mobility committee, I am with you on this one. We are pressing to have that preserved and restored because it is, in fact, an iconic piece of Austin and it should not go away.”
Chair Ed Ismael and Commissioner Philip Wiley expressed similar sentiments.
“Hopefully,” said Wiley, “we can all agree that 1871 is genuinely old and worth saving.”
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