Tag Archives: Public Works Department
Tuesday, July 20, 2021 by Seth Smalley
EMS
Fire/EMS station construction on pace despite pandemic
In 2017, a service needs analysis of the Austin Fire Department led to the City Council-sanctioned creation of a six-year plan to construct and staff five fire/EMS stations in the areas of most need: Del Valle/Moore’s Crossing, Travis Country, Loop…
Wednesday, April 7, 2021 by Seth Smalley
Roads
Commissioners approve Road and Bridge Division’s 2021 work plan
Following a brief presentation from Assistant Public Works Director David P. Hunter, the Travis County Commissioners Court unanimously passed the request to approve the Road and Bridge Division’s work plan for the 2021 fiscal year. Hunter’s presentation detailed the wide…
Tuesday, February 16, 2021 by Jo Clifton
Austin
Winter weather shuts down the city
The storm that brought Austin to a standstill continues to impact city operations this week. Services are closed across the city due to extreme weather with an expectation that more winter is on the way. City officials announced Monday that…
Thursday, October 1, 2020 by Ryan Thornton
Transportation
Healthy Streets inspires slow streets pilot
With cases of Covid-19 on the decline in Austin, the Transportation Department is preparing to wind down the Healthy Streets initiative, a safe mobility and social distancing program that’s been in effect since May 22. The department will start by…
Friday, July 31, 2020 by Jo Clifton
City Council
Council OKs short contract to clean up homeless camps
Ten people signed up to tell Council on Wednesday they were opposed to awarding a three-year contract to Relief Enterprise of Texas Inc. for “removal of debris and cleanup services under bridge overpasses, under bridges, and in the transportation right…
Tuesday, June 2, 2020 by Jessi Devenyns
The Code
Environmental Commission says Public Works project ‘flies in the face’ of environmental regulations
In order to create easy access and support increased traffic headed to a new Habitat for Humanity development in Southeast Austin, the Public Works Department is working on constructing a road that crosses a “classified waterway.” Under city code, a…
Friday, January 10, 2020 by Ryan Thornton
City Hall
Cypress and Shoal Creek Project potential recipient of hotel tax dollars
The Public Works Department has studied various ways to prioritize and fund the Cypress and Shoal Creek Project on the northeastern edge of the Seaholm District. Now the department has determined that the Historic Preservation portion of the Hotel Occupancy…
Thursday, May 3, 2018 by Caleb Pritchard
Parks
It’s lit: Project brings long-awaited improvements to Shoal Creek Trail
It took nearly 37 years, but the Shoal Creek Trail Gap Project is finally complete. On Tuesday, the Public Works Department lifted the barricades on the short section of the trail that traces the creek on its bend from West…
Monday, March 19, 2018 by Caleb Pritchard
Transportation
City defends unusual sidewalk design
A short stretch of zigzagging sidewalk in downtown Austin has wound the city’s Public Works Department into a small patch of controversy. The meandering path on West Seventh Street just before West Avenue first appeared last month and, according to…
Tuesday, October 3, 2017 by Jo Clifton
City Hall
Audit: Public Works skipped quality controls
The Public Works Department, which oversees the city’s capital projects, like the new Central Library and Water Treatment Plant 4, has failed to “consistently follow processes designed to contain costs and ensure the quality” of such projects, according to a…
Tuesday, September 26, 2017 by Jessi Devenyns
Bicycles
Upper Boggy Creek Trail one step closer to reality
After a contentious debate among the commissioners, the Environmental Commission approved a variance request submitted by the Public Works Department to widen the design of a concrete trail from 12 feet to 14 feet on Sept. 20 with only Vice…
Wednesday, April 26, 2017 by Caleb Pritchard
Roads
City developing concrete plans to make bus passengers more comfortable
If you close your eyes, you can imagine yourself raiding Berlin in 1943, the deafening explosions of flak violently rankling the thin fuselage that separates you from the battlefields below. But in reality, you’re riding one of the hundreds of…
Friday, March 31, 2017 by Jo Clifton
Roads
Fixing street cut repair program to take time
City Council Member Ellen Troxclair said she was “really alarmed” when she read the Office of the City Auditor report showing that the city has a 3.6-year backlog in repairing potholes created by utility crews fixing water lines. That’s the…
Monday, August 29, 2016 by Cate Malek
Parks
City begins work on new urban trails
Two new urban trails are set to begin construction next March, providing more options for Austinites who prefer to go carless. Teams should complete work on the Upper Boggy Creek Trail, serving neighborhoods on the east side, in November 2017.…
Wednesday, August 17, 2016 by Cate Malek
Budget
City responds to call for more street and sidewalk maintenance
Austinites who have complained about the state of the city’s streets may soon see an improvement, if a proposed tax increase is approved as part of next year’s budget. In a survey conducted by the city last year, members of…
Tuesday, June 21, 2016 by Caleb Pritchard
Transportation
With funding still in question, Council approves sidewalk plan update
City Council last week gave nearly unanimous approval to an update of the 2009 Sidewalk Master Plan. The 9-0-1 vote comes in the middle of the ongoing debate over a small batch of mobility bond proposals that could go before…
Wednesday, May 11, 2016 by Jo Clifton
Austin
More funds needed to finish Waller project
City Council will be considering seven items on Thursday’s agenda with a combined financial impact of $7.5 million for completing the Waller Creek Project, which has been fraught with difficulties since the discovery that the intake tunnel had been designed…
Wednesday, May 11, 2016 by Elizabeth Pagano
Transportation
City ponders giant increase in sidewalk investments
Now that Uber and Lyft have driven over the horizon, some are looking to their feet for transportation options. At the moment, the odds are good that those feet may be standing on broken or incomplete sidewalks. But if the…
Tuesday, April 26, 2016 by Jo Clifton
City Hall
Lazarus offered top job in Ann Arbor
The City Council of Ann Arbor, Michigan, has chosen Howard Lazarus, director of Austin’s Public Works Department, as its new city administrator. The Michigan Daily reported Lazarus’ selection as the city’s top manager last week. Lazarus told the Austin Monitor on…
Friday, March 4, 2016 by Jack Craver
Transportation
How should Austin fund its transportation needs?
The City Council Mobility Committee largely steered clear of discussing a potential bond election during a meeting Wednesday focused on how the city can finance its looming transportation needs. A bond election, said Council Member Ann Kitchen, who chairs the…
