Great Streets Master Plan

Summary

In August 2000 City Council awarded Black & Vernooy + Kinney, a local urban design consultant team, to create a Great Streets Master Plan for the Downtown. The study area is roughly bounded by Martin Luther King Boulevard, IH-35, North Lamar Boulevard and Town Lake. The project officially kicked off this month with the first meeting of the advisory groups (see below) with the consultant team and City staff.

The Great Streets Program was initiated by the Downtown Austin Alliance (DAA) in 1996 to improve the quality of downtown streets and sidewalks, aiming ultimately to make these great public spaces, where residents and tourists alike can thrive in the heart of a vital, humane and memorable place: Austin, Texas. A major goal of the DAA's Great Streets Program is to create an accessible, comfortable and aesthetic pedestrian network throughout downtown with coordinated participation from both public and private entities.

Status

On February 9 the consultant team held a joint meeting with the Community Advisory Group and the Technical Advisory Group.

Issues

The Great Streets Mater Plan will be founded on the vision set forth in the now, Council-adopted, Downtown Austin Design Guidelines of creating a dense, vibrant downtown with a strong sense of place and a strong concern for the public. A large part of achieving this vision depends on improving the public arena by guiding both public and private development of the public spaces and paths: the streetscape. The Great Streets Project will create a master plan for the downtown public right-of-way network that - through excellent urban design and an understanding of the unique nature and character of Austin - integrates all modes of transportation into a balanced system of streets and sidewalks. The Project must enhance the livability, safety and aesthetics of the public realm - prioritizing first the pedestrian experience - thereby enhancing and encouraging walking, biking and using transit.

The Great Streets Master Plan is the urban design "complement" of the Downtown Access and Mobility Plan, currently underway through the City of Austin's Public Works and Transportation Department. The Great Streets Master Plan will provide the sorely needed vision of downtown streets and sidewalks that will enable private property owners and public agencies alike to make appropriate streetscape improvements in a more predictable, coordinated and fiscally sensible manner.

Description

The scope of work will include four major elements:

1. Coordinating closely with the both Comprehensive CBD Parking Study and the Downtown Access and Mobility Plan, create the Great Streets Master Plan. The Great Streets Master Plan will cover the entire study area and indicate number and width of travel and parking lanes, final locations of bulb-outs, bus platforms, taxi stations, parking and loading spaces, sidewalks, street trees, lighting and traffic signal poles, etc., and especially, curb faces. (Note; The Downtown Access and Mobility Plan will propose direction and number of travel lanes and intersection configurations, but will not produce a final public right-of-way design, which is the fundamental purpose of the Great Streets Master Plan.)
2. Generate a set of downtown streetscape design standards for the redevelopment of downtown streets for each primary street "type" according to their primary use characteristics (pedestrian, transit, automobile access, etc.). The streetscape standards should conceive and/or specify a system of coordinated street furnishings, utilities and amenities as well as provide detailed standards for their location in the public right-of-way.
3. Develop concept design plans priority Great Streets as determined through the Project process. Public participation is an important part of the project. Black + Kinney and City staff will collaborate on community involvement efforts.
4. Involve downtown stakeholders and affected agencies throughout the project process. Both a community advisory group and a technical, interagency group will be established to review and provide input on recommendations emerging from the consultant team throughout the project. Jose Martinez of Jose Martinez Associates is responsible for the public involvement component of this project as a subconsultant to Black & Vernooy + Kinney.

Basic Data