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  #101  
Old Posted Jun 19, 2013, 4:02 AM
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They want to replace the APD Headquarters, but they have no plans to do so. Big pipe dream with no major developement anytime soon. We just paid someone a shit ton of money to draw up a plan that may not even resemble the finished product. Pontoon bridge? Not likely, it crosses the river where a light rail bridge would need to be built. Swing gated? Please...this is Austin, not Futurama land. And it looks like the guy fishing just landed a 200 pound blue fin. Doubt fishing would be allowed on any bridge. I said it before, the original thought for Waller Creek was to keep it urban, allow developement along both sides and have the developers pay for the improvements along the frontage of their property. How does spending a shit ton of money on a tunnel justify spending a shit ton of money on parkland? I thought the tunnel was being built so that developement could happen on unusable land. All I'm seeing is grass, parks, and such, of which I don't see paying off the cost of building the tunnel. So my question is this...did they build the tunnel to allow for parks along the creek, or to allow business to build along it on now usable and valuable land which will add to the tax base? Forgive my ignorance, but I see little talk of developing Waller Creek into a mecca for businesses on land that is becoming increasing scarce downtown. The design is beautiful, but far fetched and a waste of money on what will soon be what it was originally planned to be... prime real estate, not a wide swath of park land.
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  #102  
Old Posted Jun 19, 2013, 4:59 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by the Genral View Post
They want to replace the APD Headquarters, but they have no plans to do so. Big pipe dream with no major developement anytime soon. We just paid someone a shit ton of money to draw up a plan that may not even resemble the finished product. Pontoon bridge? Not likely, it crosses the river where a light rail bridge would need to be built. Swing gated? Please...this is Austin, not Futurama land. And it looks like the guy fishing just landed a 200 pound blue fin. Doubt fishing would be allowed on any bridge. I said it before, the original thought for Waller Creek was to keep it urban, allow developement along both sides and have the developers pay for the improvements along the frontage of their property. How does spending a shit ton of money on a tunnel justify spending a shit ton of money on parkland? I thought the tunnel was being built so that developement could happen on unusable land. All I'm seeing is grass, parks, and such, of which I don't see paying off the cost of building the tunnel. So my question is this...did they build the tunnel to allow for parks along the creek, or to allow business to build along it on now usable and valuable land which will add to the tax base? Forgive my ignorance, but I see little talk of developing Waller Creek into a mecca for businesses on land that is becoming increasing scarce downtown. The design is beautiful, but far fetched and a waste of money on what will soon be what it was originally planned to be... prime real estate, not a wide swath of park land.
It seems a park to improve the living conditions of the homeless is what we are getting.
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  #103  
Old Posted Jun 19, 2013, 5:02 AM
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I've been curious about the design since the contest. They all seemed to be park oriented. While nice, that's not what I was expecting.

And I still hate the poppy.
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  #104  
Old Posted Jun 19, 2013, 5:13 AM
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There's still going to be a lot of highrise development surrounding it. Where is that rendering showing a massing of all the towers surrounding the area?

I am wondering how the new development can be connected to the creek level or at least close enough so that you feel like you're on the water/green belt.

I wanted a mix of both. An urban creek environment like the riverwalk and another portion that is more open and wild like the hike and bike trail and areas of San Antonio's River North.
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  #105  
Old Posted Jun 19, 2013, 7:10 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lzppjb View Post
I've been curious about the design since the contest. They all seemed to be park oriented. While nice, that's not what I was expecting.

And I still hate the poppy.
What were you expecting? (Not a rhetorical question btw)
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  #106  
Old Posted Jun 19, 2013, 7:17 AM
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The poppy is the only thing I liked in any of the proposals. I also agree with everything that the genral said above.
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  #107  
Old Posted Jun 19, 2013, 7:29 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas View Post
There's still going to be a lot of highrise development surrounding it. Where is that rendering showing a massing of all the towers surrounding the area?

I am wondering how the new development can be connected to the creek level or at least close enough so that you feel like you're on the water/green belt.

I wanted a mix of both. An urban creek environment like the riverwalk and another portion that is more open and wild like the hike and bike trail and areas of San Antonio's River North.
And yet aside from improving the narrow sections around 5th near where Priller's condos are, these appear to be completely park related, with no indication of new urban design features such as shops, restaurants, hotels, ect...I really think something is screwed up here. I think the vision of what the tunnel was supposed to bring along the creek got lost by inviting park developers to design the creek's future instead of real estate and business
developers.
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  #108  
Old Posted Jun 19, 2013, 8:34 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by the Genral View Post
What were you expecting? (Not a rhetorical question btw)
I was expecting something more similar to San Antonio's Riverwalk. I didn't want it to totally copy it, but I expected buildings up to the waterfront, restaurants and cafes right there, etc. Apparently that's what the "Narrows" will be, but that is a small part of the overall project.
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  #109  
Old Posted Jun 19, 2013, 8:44 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lzppjb View Post
I was expecting something more similar to San Antonio's Riverwalk. I didn't want it to totally copy it, but I expected buildings up to the waterfront, restaurants and cafes right there, etc. Apparently that's what the "Narrows" will be, but that is a small part of the overall project.
That is exactly what I was hoping for too...
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  #110  
Old Posted Jul 7, 2013, 5:07 AM
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July 5, 2013

Waller Creek Tunnel Outlet Facility





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  #111  
Old Posted Sep 23, 2013, 7:21 PM
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From about a week ago. Sorry for the graininess, it was quite dark when I took this photo.

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  #112  
Old Posted Sep 24, 2013, 2:37 AM
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Goodness, doesn't really look like a whole lot has been done since the first pic was posted back in July, its been over 2 months. There has been work done obviously just seems that for the amount of time, its been slow. Im guessing they are going along with the tunnel time schedule.
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  #113  
Old Posted Oct 15, 2013, 12:35 AM
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Uh oh.

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/b...31014_13122514
Quote:
Posted: 1:25 p.m. Monday, Oct. 14, 2013
Waller Creek tunnel project set back a week after heavy rains

By Patrick Beach
American-Statesman Staff

“That site got inundated,” Jackson said. “We have a protocol to pump it out. We’ll be back in business in about a week.”

Photo by Jay Godwin / Austin American-Statesman - Via Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/statesman/photos_stream
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  #114  
Old Posted Oct 15, 2013, 12:40 AM
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That's a setback I can live with. Too much rain is a good problem to have right now. I hope it doesn't stop.
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  #115  
Old Posted Oct 15, 2013, 7:30 AM
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agreed. texas needs all the rain it can get for the moment. just hope that everyone was safe.
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  #116  
Old Posted Oct 15, 2013, 7:39 AM
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Farmer's Almanac called for a very wet Fall and Winter. Starting out right on track.
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  #117  
Old Posted Oct 15, 2013, 5:13 PM
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The big deal is that the ground has already been saturated by all the previous rains up to this point so that means more runoff which will actually fill our creeks and lakes. We got decent rain over the summer, but it was off and on small amounts and amounted to keeping the plants green and not adding significantly to the water system. You need the ground to be saturated or heavy rainfall to do that... or like this weekend, both.
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  #118  
Old Posted Dec 23, 2013, 6:00 AM
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  #119  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2014, 12:46 AM
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http://www.dailytexanonline.com/news...n-waller-creek

Quote:
University and city officials put construction spotlights on Waller Creek

Just as surveyor and Austin mayor Edwin Waller considered Waller Creek a beautiful resource in his original 1838 plan for the city, recent University and city master plans are beginning to feature the creek more prominently as an important ecological asset, resulting in drastic changes both on campus and in downtown Austin.

While Waller Creek has always figured prominently in UT’s history, only in recent decades did the University begin to embrace the creek’s ecological value. The University’s 2013 Campus Master Plan, which outlines goals for how campus will develop in the next 30 years, set in motion the construction of the Dell Medical School and launched a plan to make the creek a more centralized feature of campus. Meanwhile, construction projects downtown will redirect the southernmost part of the creek in order to increase area safety and foster economic growth.
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  #120  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2014, 10:20 AM
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That says the flood control tunnel project will open up 11 percent of downtown to development by taking it out of the flood plain.
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