South Lamar Condo Construction

AusTexMurf · 2013-01-11 12:24:03

Absolutely unacceptable. If someone knows the best manner to contact the COA about this.......

The bike lanes, shoulder, and sidewalk on the northbound side of South Lamar have been completely taken over to provide parking for the construction crews' vehicles and 'improvements' they are making to the sidewalk for some swank new condos going up around The Broken Spoke. The closure begins just north of Panther Trail, past Golden Corral restaurant up to Barton Skyway.

Anyway, use caution if headed north on Lamar from Ben White. This route is very dangerous for cyclists unless the city intervenes. Had to take the whole lane on Lamar while pulling my youngest two kiddos in my Chariot trailer on the way to meet my 3rd grader at Zilker Elementary. Drivers were honking and yelling and the city bus was tailgating me because I was holding up one whole lane on Lamar. I really didn't have any other choice. It wouldn't have bothered me as much if I had been without a trailer and my two littlest ones but the conditions are generally unfavorable for any cyclist.

If I have to do that route over, I will cross Lamar at the light at Panther Trail and ride the sidewalk northbound until I can disappear into Barton Hills neighborhood.

Last edited by AusTexMurf (2013-01-11 12:31:22)

savanni · 2013-01-11 12:56:52

I thought about mentioning this in the bikeability discussion happening on one of the other forums.

So long as Austin culture remains like this (anyone who wants to putting signs, construction debris, or their cars in the bike lanes; violent drivers; etc), no number of bike lanes will do us even the slightest good. Unless we start seeing APD enforcing the laws uniformly and unless we start seeing drivers actually behave themselves, Austin's bikeability is going to remain minimal.

Ironically, I found that as soon as I was *OUTSIDE* of Austin, the drivers on the farm roads are actually courteous and will go around me without even the slightest comment.

MichaelBluejay · 2013-01-12 01:30:29

AusTexMurf, Austin is ranked as one of the top biking cities in the U.S., didn't you hear? You must be mistaken about S. Lamar being unbikable.

tomwald · 2013-01-12 12:22:03

AusTexMurf wrote:

Absolutely unacceptable. If someone knows the best manner to contact the COA about this.......

Do call 311 about this. I'm going to send a quick email to several people as well.

rich00 · 2013-02-04 19:14:59

Last week I took the western sidewalk due to this.

This section of road really needs fixing. It's not like the area near DT where there are alternate options.

owlman · 2013-03-03 19:07:37

I went that way to go to the Kite festival today, taking the sidewalk between Panther and wherever the bike lanes start near Bluebonnet. It was pretty awful... totally torn up, lots of gravel, etc. Unless you've got a mountain bike I would follow the other posters' advice and avoid what's left of the NB sidewalk. Cross to the west side or find an alternate route. (of course, either way you still have to deal with the usual sidewalk-riding issues of turning traffic in driveways blocking the sidewalk).

On the plus side, riding through that mess made the Bluebonnet 2-way bikeway feel REALLY nice afterward.

AusTexMurf · 2013-03-04 05:05:06

I did contact the city about this issue, a couple of times. City council approved the construction exactly the way that it is. Deemed too difficult to provide pedestrian options. At least we have some rubble and a little bit of space now. They did have it blocked all the way to the traffic lane striping.

Anyway, the easiest and safest route through this area is to cross to the west sidewalk at the light at Panther. Ride the sidewalk north (only 1 or 2 bad private driveway crossings) to Westrock to Westhill to Barton Skyway to Rae Dell to Arpdale to Bluebonnet. Left on Bluebonnet gets you on the new cycle track to Zilker Park or right gets you back to the narrow bike lane on lamar. You can also cross lamar and cut through the neighborhood to get to Thornton, oltorf, s 5th st or you can take bluebonnet to Zilker elementary, hether to mary to s 5th st and down to the lake.

G'luck.

Last edited by AusTexMurf (2013-03-04 09:49:05)

owlman · 2013-03-04 08:54:16

Thanks. I'll try the western sidewalk next time. I normally avoid all the Lamar/Manchaca/DelCurto bike-discomfort and take Banister/S 5th (sad that there's no nice N/S route west of that).

rich00 · 2013-03-05 00:32:19

The western sidewalk isn't too bad. There's no bad faults that could cause a pinch flat. Just be ready for cars crossing/stopping on the sidewalk. It's honestly a huge difference in stress to ride that vs the road there.

Bicycle Austin forum

#1 2013-01-11 12:24:03

South Lamar Condo Construction

#2 2013-01-11 12:56:52

Re: South Lamar Condo Construction

#3 2013-01-12 01:30:29

Re: South Lamar Condo Construction

#4 2013-01-12 12:22:03

Re: South Lamar Condo Construction

#5 2013-02-04 19:14:59

Re: South Lamar Condo Construction

#6 2013-03-03 19:07:37

Re: South Lamar Condo Construction

#7 2013-03-04 05:05:06

Re: South Lamar Condo Construction

#8 2013-03-04 08:54:16

Re: South Lamar Condo Construction

#9 2013-03-05 00:32:19

Re: South Lamar Condo Construction

Board footer