Though the city’s Public Works department paid consultants $340,000 to
develop options for the Lamar Bridge, no alternative was considered for
attaching bike/pedestrian lanes to the existing bridge that did not also
include widening it to six lanes for vehicles. The only no-widening
option offered would build an entirely separate bike/ped bridge to the west.
However, some neighborhood residents would prefer that the hike-and-bike
bridge be attached to the main bridge. They say that a separate bridge would be
ignored by cyclists and pedestrians who would naturally prefer to use the more
direct — and more hazardous — route on the main bridge. Another reason
residents may want to attach the pedestrian bridge to Lamar is to preclude
future widening for vehicles.
Local architect Sinclair Black — whose longtime interest in compact city
principles compelled him to design his own alternative to the Texas Dept. of
Transportation’s US290 freeway where it is slated to go through Oak Hill, as
well as an underground I-35 as an alternative to flying ramps — has done it
again with Lamar Bridge. This time he has come up with an alternative design
that calls for a cantilevered pedestrian bridge that is attached to the
main bridge. Black says his design would be less expensive than building new
piers into the water for a separate bridge.
But Public Works Project Manager Richard Kroger supports a separate pedestrian
bridge because, he explains, attaching pedestrian lanes would adversely impact
the bridge’s historical architecture, possibly complicating use of federal
funds awarded for the project.
Tere O’Connell, Assistant Director of Architecture at the Texas Historical
Commission, says that Lamar Bridge is the last remaining example of an art deco
bridge on the state highway system. She agrees that attaching a cantilevered
pedestrian lane to the bridge would adversely modify its historical
architecture, though she considers Public Works’ plans to widen the bridge to
six traffic lanes to be more harmful by far. A separate pedestrian bridge built
close to the water would not block views of Lamar Bridge, says O’Connell, but
would provide good close-up observation points for people to view the main
bridge’s design. Though she favors a separate pedestrian bridge, she believes
that the Historical Commission might approve a well-designed cantilevered
pedestrian lane if there is a strong consensus for it in Austin. —
N.E.
This article appears in October 11 • 1996 and October 11 • 1996 (Cover).