With the passage of Proposition B, Austin is now set to get a third pedestrian bridge over Lady Bird Lake — a companion to the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge that will complete the loop of the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail.
The as yet unnamed bridge would span Lady Bird Lake just upstream from the Longhorn Dam and be an eastern companion to the popular Pfluger Bridge near Lamar Boulevard. The Pfluger Bridge got its name when it was opened in 2001, and the Austin City Council generally gives notable city-owned landmarks their names.
City leaders aim to emulate the atmosphere of the Pfluger Bridge, a popular spot for strollers, runners, bicyclists and Instagrammers that has become inextricable from the fabric of downtown Austin since it opened in 2001.
In that vein, the initial designs for the new pedestrian bridge show a similar mid-bridge plaza, an area wide enough for people to pass one another safely but also for people to stop and have a seat on a bench.
City staff members are referring to it as the “wishbone bridge” as a nod to its three-pronged design. The concept chosen last year shows a bridge that crosses Lady Bird Lake from Longhorn Shores on the southern edge of the lake to Holly Shores.
The bridge would bend upstream to a triangular intersection stretching from a slim peninsula near the north edge of the lake, providing an alternative to traveling along the narrow sidewalk atop Longhorn Dam.
“There are definitely a lot of safety improvements with the new bridge,” said Katie Wettick, manager of the city’s urban trails program. “It is totally separated from traffic, wide enough that people can hopefully safely pass each other and the wishbone alignment makes it convenient for people either traveling down Pleasant Valley or on the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail loop.”
The initial design and public outreach campaign for the bridge was funded by the 2016 voter-approved $720 million mobility bond. A July preliminary engineering report estimated designing and building the bridge will cost $12.6 million.
Design and engineering work for the bridge will begin early next year. City staffers estimate that it will take about five years to complete.
The end result is something city staffers hope will be a safer avenue for pedestrians and bicyclists that is fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and an attractive destination along the hike-and-bike trail that will draw more people to that part of the trail.
That area currently sees fewer than half the number of pedestrians and bicyclists as the area of the trail closer to the Pfluger Bridge, according to the city’s trail tracker.
“I hope that it would bring a lot more people to this part of the trail and bring the nearby neighbors down to the trail,” Wettick said.
The wishbone bridge is part of a $102 million portion of Prop B’s $460 million bond package that placed alternative modes of transportation at the forefront. Prop B passed handily on Nov. 3 with 67% of voters in favor.
Other portions of that funding will go toward a general enhancement of Pleasant Valley Road, which is the only non-highway road in East Austin with a bridge over the Colorado River.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the new bridge would be the second pedestrian bridge on Lady Bird Lake.
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