Congress Avenue redesign plan: Austin Mobility Committee briefed on recommendations
AUSTIN, Texas - The City of Austin is planning to turn several blocks in front of the Capitol into a plaza that will be closed to vehicular traffic.
The Austin Mobility Committee was briefed on some of the recommendations going forward.
What is the Congress Urban Design Initiative?
The backstory:
The Congress Avenue Urban Design Initiative would turn Congress Avenue from 7th to 11th Streets into a public plaza. East to west traffic would still flow.
In a recommendation, the Urban Transportation Commission says there has been a 57 percent decrease in traffic between 9th and 10th Streets on Congress from 2015 to 2023, and an average of about 12,000 daily pedestrian trips in March 2024.
Plus, the downtown street network is one percent of Austin's streets, but has 12 percent of pedestrian crashes.
The other part of the plan adds improved bike lanes, dedicated turn lanes, and more pedestrian space between Cesar Chavez and 7th Street. That means the parking spaces will go away, but the city says it's only 1.5 percent of all downtown parking spaces.
The Urban Transportation Commission recommends trying out a "ciclovia," which means the street is closed to cars and just open to bikes and pedestrians.
They also suggest lifting the moratorium on new downtown street events, evaluating things like retractable bollards, and preparing for the eventual two-way conversion of 7th to 10th Streets.
What they're saying:
"In terms of activating our streets, building community, fighting our loneliness epidemic in this country, making sure that we are in community with one another, those things are very important I think," Susan Somers, chair of the Urban Transportation Commission, said.
"It's about building for the future, and I really hope we get it right so that way our kids' kids' kids can enjoy, and future councils are like, 'we don't have to do that because that really smart council from 2025 did that,'" Zo Qadri, District 9 Council Member, said.
What's next:
The first phase of proposed construction uses funds from the 2020 Mobility Bond.
The $22 million gets two of the four plaza blocks done. The rest of it would come from more bonds or grants.
There is no projected completion date yet.
The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Angela Shen