Help Stop the Destruction of Zilker Park Today!!

This Thursday the Austin City Council will consider approving $40 million to destroy our historic Zilker Park bridge over Barton Creek and replace it with a giant, ugly, highway bridge.  

Please sign up to speak here, on Item 50, either in person or by call in, and please send an email to City Council today here telling them to stop the madness and protect the historic Barton Springs Road Bridge, Barton Creek and Zilker Park. 

Please take a few minutes to read the details here, spread this email to your friends and if at all possible please plan to be there at City Hall this Thursday at 10:00 to defend our City's natural and cultural heritage (once again). 

Top Reasons to Save Our Historic Zilker Park Bridge 

1. The Bridge is a Historic City Treasure and Should Be Maintained and Protected Forever.  

The beautiful, historic Zilker Bridge is one of many in central Austin from the early 20th Century.  More than 25 of these bridges, including the Lamar Bridge over Lady Bird Lake that the City once tried to destroy and replace, are found from East Austin to downtown, from Hyde Park, and the Shoal and Waller,Creek watersheds to  the Blunn, and Bouldin Creek watersheds  in south Austin.  These historic bridges are all built in a common, arching style, and with the concrete and building techniques developed since the ancient Roman Empire that make them "forever bridges."   

Yes, forever, if you care enough to say no to the lies, greed, and demands to erase our history and heritage that now run rampant at City Hall.  The Zilker Bridge over Barton Creek is a public treasure and is included as a contributing feature to the Zilker Park National Register Historic District.  The bridge should be completely off limits to anything but love and caring. 

Replacing the bridge with a bigger, uglier highway bridge will also do real damage to Zilker Park, Barton Creek, and the hike and bike trail. It will destroy part of the Vara Daniel State designated Archeological District that covers much of Zilker Park and runs along the northwest bank of Barton Creek.  And it remove the beautiful bridge views long loved by canoists, kayakers, paddle boarders, walkers, runners, and swimmers who play in and along Barton Creek below the bridge and pass over the creek on the pedestrian bridge. 

2. City Staff Lied That the Historic Bridge is Frail and Cannot Be Maintained Without Spending More Than the Cost of Destroying and Replacing It. 

City Staff lied repeatedly to City Council and the public that the historic Zilker bridge was frail and would cost tens of millions to repair and maintain.  Austin structural engineer Tom Kam, who has actually built bridges for the City of Austin in his 40 year career, debunked this claim by simply reading their own technical reports. These reports determined a "fair" condition for the bridge, that the vertical supports in the creek and the arches were solid, and that only the horizontal decking needs attention.  Staff falsely (and absurdly) claimed that the only way to repair the decking was to set off a series of small explosions to remove the decking and replace it entirely.  Mr. Kam visually inspected  the decking, which is easily done by walking on the trails on both sides of Barton Creek, directly under the bridge.  Go see for yourself.  It doesn't take an engineer to see that the bridge decking is in good shape. Every bridge needs attention, but the City has neglected the bridge upkeep for too many years.  Meanwhile, the cost to demolish and replace the bridge keeps going up from $20 million to the $40 million current price tag. 

3. The Real Agenda is To Replace Zilker Park With a Forever LiveNation - Ticketmaster Controlled Outdoor Entertainment District. 

This $ 40 million plan to destroy our historic bridge is the first major move to resurrect the LiveNation-driven plan to convert Zilker Park into an outdoor entertainment district.  Destroying the historic bridge and replacing it with a much bigger bridge provides cover for stringing sewer and water pipes, power lines, and telecommunications cabling on the underside of the new bridge to serve LiveNation/ACL's 75,000 customers per day and the proposed year-around concert venue.  A new bridge would allow overloading of concrete and steel hauling trucks to build parking garages, temporary and permanent stages, and 3 other new bridges pushed for the Zilker Park.

4. The New False Claims Suggest the Historic Bridge is Dangerous to Cars, Bikes and Pedestrians.  It's Not. 

With Mr. Kam and others debunking the false claim that the bridge is frail and cannot be saved without blowing it up, staff now argues that the road, as it passes over the bridge is "out of line" and "obsolete," and does not meet "current design standards."  They strongly hint without directly claiming that the bridge is dangerous. That's because there are no statistics identifying the bridge as high on traffic accidents . 

Yes, there is a very slight turn in Barton Springs Road as it crosses the creek.  But none of our streets are straight lines and there is no case to be made that the bridge alignment causes any problems.  Further, the recent Barton Springs Road safety changes dedicate one car lane of the bridge to bike lanes and has been declared an overall success for managing traffic. The car/bike/pedestrian conflicts are now vastly improved -- and car traffic is slowed down by the changes to make it even safer for bikes, peds and cars entering and leaving the park.  

The simple fact is that the bridge is safe and should be loved and maintained as long as Austin exists.  Its time to say no to the greed of construction firms and Live Nation, and the willingness of City Staff to tells lies and mislead to serve their interests.  

Please sign up, show up, and speak out!! Save Our Historic Zilker Park Bridge!

SIGN UP TO SPEAK AGAINST ITEM 50 AND SAVE THE HISTORIC BRIDGE