AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin finished work on a “critical connection” point along the Violet Crown Trail in southwest Austin last month, officials announced in an Austin Mobility newsletter Monday.
In November, the Hill Country Conservancy and Austin Parks and Recreation Department celebrated the completion of Phase 1 of the Violet Crown Trail. That finalized first phase is 13 miles long and runs from Zilker Park to the La Cross trailhead near the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in south Austin.
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Crews finished work in February on an extension along the Violet Crown Trail. Once fully complete, the trail system will run 30 miles from Zilker Park in Austin down into Hays County. (Courtesy Austin Transportation and Public Works Department) -
Crews finished work in February on an extension along the Violet Crown Trail. Once fully complete, the trail system will run 30 miles from Zilker Park in Austin down into Hays County. (Courtesy Austin Transportation and Public Works Department) -
Crews finished work in February on an extension along the Violet Crown Trail. Once fully complete, the trail system will run 30 miles from Zilker Park in Austin down into Hays County. (Courtesy Austin Transportation and Public Works Department) -
Crews finished work in February on an extension along the Violet Crown Trail. Once fully complete, the trail system will run 30 miles from Zilker Park in Austin down into Hays County. (Courtesy Austin Transportation and Public Works Department)
Last month, crews wrapped work on the 1,000-foot extension along the southbound service road of MoPac, linking William Cannon Drive to the western trailhead of the trail. That extension offers a new and wider shared-use path on the western side of MoPac alongside the previous connection made on the east side of MoPac, north of William Cannon Drive, an Austin Transportation and Public Works spokesperson told KXAN.
The second phase of work will build out the La Crosse Violet Crown trailhead, with a planned gathering area and educational signage. Past Slaughter Creek, the trail will turn and wind into the City of Austin Water Quality Protection Lands — an area that will deviate from the first phase of the trail where users “will be much more immersed in nature and distanced from an urban setting and amenities,” according to project details.
Once fully completed, the trail will run 30 miles and “will provide a unique recreational experience as it passes through the urban wildlands of the Barton Creek Wilderness Park, the City of Sunset Valley, City of Austin Water Quality Protection Lands, and eventually into Hays County,” the Hill Country Conservancy noted.
Planning for the Violet Crown Trail dates back nearly two decades, when efforts launched in 2006 to create the first regional trail system within Central Texas, according to the Hill Country Conservancy’s trail description.
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