Healthy Streets pilot winds down

After 10 months, the Healthy Streets Initiative is winding down. According to a memo from Austin Transportation Director Robert Spillar, “With a return to Stage 3 and evidence that greater numbers of people are now returning to their daily pre-pandemic travel patterns, ATD will resume the slow wind-down of the original program. This is necessary to balance staff capacity needed to effectively maintain Healthy Streets safety elements and devices that separate these street areas with the ongoing work to build permanent critical infrastructure.” Temporary routes on Riverside Drive, Garden Villa Lane and the northern section of Comal Street are in the process of being removed. The southern section of Comal Street, Avenue G, Bouldin Avenue and South Third will remain in place for the time being as the program is budgeted through September. However, as Spillar notes, a permanent version of the program is on the way. Staffers are exploring locations that would best support reduced traffic on a permanent basis as well as “actively working to transition the current Healthy Street on Pleasant Valley Road over the Longhorn Dam to a more permanent infrastructure configuration.”