More than 15,000 people a day use it and several hundred thousand crowd it on the weekends. It’s the Town Lake Hike and Bike Trail, and it’s in trouble. Not many people know that what’s long been considered the “jewel of Austin” is in disrepair. The city’s budget for parks and recreation — which handles much of the ongoing maintenance of the trail — was severely cut after the events of September 11 and the economic downturn that hit Austin around the same time, from about $32 million in 2000 to about $27 million today. “One of the issues we’re dealing with is that the parks budget got clobbered,” says Brewster McCracken, Austin City Council. “The trail is in desperate shape.”
Charlie McCabe is the executive director of the Austin Parks Foundation, an umbrella organization that helps community groups launch projects related to the city’s parks and trails. He says that, when it comes to city park budgets, safety naturally comes first.
“In an economic downturn, the parks department must prioritize based on safety, and what often gets cut first is operations and maintenance,” he explains. “You can’t cut playscape maintenance and you can’t cut lifeguards. Trails are often at the lowest level in terms of priority.”
A Trail in Disrepair
As a result, the much-loved Town Lake Trail is a victim of its own popularity. With usage that has only increased in the 30-plus years since it was born, the trail is by far the city’s most popular natural attraction — ahead of pools, playscapes and cultural attractions.
“The trail’s biggest challenge is that it’s being loved to death,” says McCabe. “When it was built, it was built for that time. With more than 100 miles of trails in Austin, the challenge is keeping up with that volume with a diminished budget and staff.”
Desperation on the trail in 2006 centers around operations and maintenance, like controlling invasive species and vines that are strangling trees, ongoing battles against erosion, flooding and safety issues. There are also infrastructure challenges, like safety lighting, quantity and quality of restrooms, and amenities for heavy usage areas like Austin High School. And of course, there’s also a question of what’s to come. Since the trail was created in 1971, there hasn’t been much of a plan to address its future.
01 Erosion Natural wear and tear along points of the trail have been marked off, yet to be repaired, making safety an issue during high-traffic times of day
02 Facilities Bathroom facilities are severely outdated and relatively sparse. There are not enough water fountains nor any public showers along the trail
03 Signage Directional and environmental signage does not exist as of yet along the trail. This can be a major problem, particularly for tourists
04 Riverside Drive The trail is disjointed near the Austin-American Statesman building, forcing runners/walkers to brave the traffic along Riverside Drive
05 Open Spaces On the south side of the trail, just east of the MoPac pedestrian bridge, there is no shade and little respite from the blistering Texas sun
Trail History
Things weren’t always like this. We didn’t always have the trail as we now know it. About 40 years ago, the banks of the Colorado River had nothing surrounding its borders to protect the city. Instead, it regularly flooded when torrential rains hit the Austin area. Trees were planted around the river to help with stability, and the river’s first dam — the Tom Miller Dam — was completed in 1893. It was the first of several dams (up to seven actually) that were eventually destroyed by flooding. The dam that’s there today, Longhorn Dam, finally separated the Colorado River to the east, creating Town Lake in 1960.
In 1971 a citizen group spearheaded by honorary chair Lady Bird Johnson and other Austin notables formed the Town Lake Beautification Committee. Their vision was to create a network of hiking trails and landscaping that would be a peaceful escape in an urban setting. More than 35 years later, it still is, and supporters say that to continue that vision, the trail needs our help.
“A lot of people think, well, I pay taxes, and that supports the trail, but that’s not the case,” says Jen Ohlson, a longtime runner and board member of the Town Lake Trail Foundation. “The original trail wasn’t equipped for anything but casual use, and it gets 1.5 million people a year who enjoy it.”
Paying for the Trail
In 2003 a group of six runners formed the Town Lake Trail Foundation (TLTF) as a 501(c)(3) non-profit to expand, improve and maintain the trail. With city budgets being cut and limited resources available, it was a group formed from a shared passion for what the trail truly has to offer.
“Thirty minutes on the trail can change my whole day,” says Griffin Davis, volunteer executive director of the Town Lake Trail Foundation. “Our mission is for the trail to represent the best of Austin.”
The TLTF has three areas of focus: maintaining it as a recreational trail for runners and walkers; improving core infrastructure issues (such as more bathrooms, water fountains, signage that’s clear, lighting and more); and the environmental aspect that was core to Lady Bird’s original mission to beautify the city via the trail.
To that end, the trail gets its funding solely from sources like the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Austin Community Foundation, Texas Parks and Wildlife, as well as private and corporate donations. A very small percentage comes from the city’s parks and recreation department, but it’s not enough to stave off the effects of heavy usage.
The Foundation, which has managed to do a tremendous amount in less than three years, including nearly $500,000 in improvements recently completed on the trail near Lou Neff Point and in other areas, emphasizes that much more needs to be done and that it’s an ongoing battle when it comes to maintenance and infrastructure obstacles.
“Public-private partnerships are key,” says Davis. “It’s not a question of the city giving us money, but giving the parks department more money to support the trail.”
A Room with a View – of Town Lake
With more than a dozen condominium and apartment projects either under construction or planned for downtown, not to mention Mayor Will Wynn’s initiative to see 25,000 people living downtown in the next 10 years, concern for the trail has certainly increased. After all, how can a trail with so much traffic hold up to all those extra feet?
Much of the marketing for downtown residential projects tout easy access to downtown, a thriving city center, along with views of and access to the Town Lake trail. Critics of downtown development believe it’s the developers who should step up to the plate when it comes to saving the trail. But, as one developer puts it, it’s like putting in landscaping before you build a house.
“We’re definitely focused on improvements, but they have to come later,” says Jamil Alam, principal in the Austin office of Trammel Crow, which is developing The Shore, a $55 million, 22-story project through High Street Residential, a subsidiary of Trammel Crow. “We have 18 to 20 months of high-rise construction to deal with first, then we’ll deal with the landscaping.”
While the city can’t exactly require developers to give money to support the trail, McCracken says there are height and density bonuses available for those who do (i.e. height and density requirements are often waived for those willing to support public amenities). We’re not living in New York City, but that is a locale that has used such bonuses for years with successful results.
“We know we need to fund our responsibility, and the way to do that is by increasing the tax base,” McCracken says. “Through development downtown, those buildings are increasing the tax base.”
Brian Birdwell, who leads the development and project management arm of the Holford Group, a land planning firm, is representing Australian developer Constellation Property Group, which is building a condominium complex at the northeast corner of I-35 and Riverside Drive.
As an Austinite who is also helping an international company with large-scale development, he realizes the funding issues with the trail, and much of it comes down to awareness.
“They [the Constellation Property Group] weren’t aware of the significance of the trail, but once we told them, they were very supportive,” he says. “We’re now working with the Town Lake Trail Foundation on making improvements.”
The bottom line is that fixing the Town Lake trail is a complicated issue that requires everyone’s help — not just the city, not just developers and not just private donations and non-profit foundations.
“There’s never been more interest in the trail than there is at this moment,” says Ohlson, who is also writing a book on the trail, scheduled to be published this year, entitled “Every Town Needs a Trail,” featuring interviews with Austinites from all walks of life about their personal connection to the trail. “If people could understand how little money is actually spent on the trail, and how much support is needed — that awareness is the number one thing.”
The Moonlight Margarita Run
Last year, when I heard about the Moonlight Margarita Run, I balked at paying $50 to enter a 5K. After all, as an avid runner, my sporadic freelance writing paychecks can only support so many races.
Not anymore. I’m making an exception.
Scheduled for August 10, it turns out that the Moonlight Margarita 5K is the Town Lake Trail’s biggest fund-raiser, sponsored by Freescale Semiconductor and generously supported by Frost Bank, Kelly Hart & Hallman, Austin Mazda Dealers Association, Wachovia, Mediterranean Resources LLC, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Bridges On The Park and Granite Ranch Events, in addition to Fairfield Development, developer of Mi Lago.
Only 2,000 spots are available to runners and just 600 tickets to the after-party are for sale, with Whole Foods Market, Maudie’s Tex-Mex, RunTex and KGSR 107.1 making in-kind contributions for food, music and yes, margaritas. Fees are $35 for the run, $50 for the party or $80 for both, and all proceeds from the event will go to the Town Lake Trail Foundation. For more information, visit www.townlaketrail.org.
As much as I use the trail, that $80 race fee is well worth it. And I can always hit the trail afterwards to work off the Mexican food and margaritas.