Parks surprised by MoPac changes

Parks and Recreation Department Director Sara Hensley expressed surprise at the Parks Board meeting Tuesday when several residents brought up the MoPac Improvement Project, and a proposed elevated double-decker bridge over Lady Bird Lake and parts of Zilker Park. Hensley said she had just heard about the plan Monday by “happenchance” when she met with a council member from Rollingwood who expressed concerns about noise from the bridge affecting the experience of park visitors. The plan, Hensley and the board learned at the meeting, also calls for plexiglass to go around the bridge in the hopes of keeping traffic noise to a minimum. This, too, was news. “I didn’t even know about the plexiglass,” Hensley said Tuesday.