Community-focused redevelopment zone (Carter Design Associates and Cotera, Kolar & Negrete Architects)
Historically, two major rail lines passed through East Austin and converged at Chicon Street — serving the heavy industry developed there since the turn of the century. Today this wide swath is still industrially zoned, despite its long disuse as rail yards, and it severs in two a large part of the East Austin community. Capital Metro proposes developing this area into a community asset by introducing a light rail station in the undeveloped East 5th Street right-of-way at Chicon, in concert with making critical zoning changes. Chicon would become an important north-south transit and pedestrian connection, linking the residential area, Martin Junior High, and Town Lake south to the commercial corridor of East 6th and 7th Streets and north to Huston-Tillotson College. Developing the 5th Street right-of-way as both a passenger railway and as a lighted, landscaped pedestrian path to the west will also give direct access to the proposed Plaza Saltillo, a market center featuring both wholesale and retail uses, that could also serve as a focal point for community gatherings.
This article appears in November 28 • 1997 and November 28 • 1997 (Cover).