James D. Pfluger, FAIA (Lamar Blvd.) Pedestrian/Bicycle Bridge

Summary

In 1984, voters approved a project to widen the existing Lamar Boulevard Bridge over Town Lake from 4 lanes to 6 lanes. On March 6, 1997 the City Council took a decision not to add travel lanes and voted to proceed with pedestrian and bicycle improvements. In September of 1998, City Council approved an option of a separate bridge. The City Council authorized HDR Engineering to provide design phase services in January 1999. The design phase was completed after obtaining TxDOT approvals. Federal ISTEA "Enhancement" funding ($953,252) has been approved for pedestrian/bicycle facilities.

This project consists of a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge on the East Side of the Lamar Boulevard Bridge over Town Lake. The current funding is sufficient for Phase One that includes the bridge over the Town Lake. The alternate consisting of and the bridge over Cesar Chavez Street and Sandra Muraida back to Lamar Boulevard was not accepted due to funding shortfall. Currently, no funding is assigned to provide for Phase Two. This phase will be coordinated with the new Lance Armstrong Crosstown Bikeway project.

With hundreds of people and lot of fanfare, the bridge opened to public on June 16. One thousand runners ran across the bridge that morning. Construction is fully completed except project plaque and signs on the hike and bike trails.

Description

The proposed project will address capacity needs for pedestrians and bicyclists at the Lamar Boulevard Bridge and connect the hike and bike trails at north and south end. The entire bridge is wheel chair accessible.

Basic Data

Back to the October 2001 Downtown Report