The Texas Department of Transportation has told the city of Austin it must accept a proposed funding agreement for a $25 million boardwalk along Lady Bird Lake, or risk losing the project altogether.
The boardwalk was originally intended to replace a narrow stretch of the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail, in front of the Hyatt Regency between South First Street and South Congress Avenue. When it rains, puddles narrow the path even further.
The city of Austin now says the existing trail will be widened and straightened in front of the Hyatt and the boardwalk will be “additive to the stretch of trail.”
In a letter to Mayor Kirk Watson dated Feb. 5, TxDOT said it will remove the boardwalk from its environmental approval for the I-35 expansion if City Council does not accept the agency’s proposed advanced funding agreement…