Cypress & Shoal Creek Public Space Strategy: draft designs open for comment
December 21, 2020 | By Shoal Creek Conservancy
The Cypress & Shoal Creek Public Space Strategy is a partnership effort with the Downtown Austin Alliance to improve the area around 3rd Street and Shoal Creek. The project name is inspired by the historic name for 3rd Street (Cypress Street), harkening back to the time when Austin’s east-west running streets were named for trees.
Ten Eyck Landscape Architects is developing a conceptual design for the Cypress & Shoal Creek Public Space Strategy, as well as construction cost estimates and recommended phasing for each element of the project. In April-May 2020, detailed public input on people’s current experience with the area, including problems and barriers to use, was gathered. With the help of this data, Ten Eyck has developed a draft design proposal for making this area safer, more accessible, and more connected. The draft design includes better bikeways, new trail connections, and pedestrian plazas, woven together with urban greenery, and is available online for public feedback through February 14, 2021.
The Cypress & Shoal Creek Public Space Strategy represents an important step in the implementation of the Shoal Creek Trail Plan, a community-guided vision for the future of the Shoal Creek Trail. Completed in 2018 with input from 100+ community groups, the Trail Plan calls for a seamless, connected pathway of hike-and-bike trails along the 11-mile Shoal Creek corridor and connections to other trails citywide. Ultimately, Shoal Creek will become part of the Big Loop, a 30-mile loop of trails and bikeways traversing the city. Improvements to the Cypress & Shoal Creek area emerged on the Trail Plan’s list of the top 5 stakeholder-identified priority projects.
