With Memorial Day weekend approaching and Austin's lake season already ramping up, people heading to Lady Bird Lake may encounter a new obstacle beneath one of the city's busiest bridges.
The state's I-35 expansion has narrowed the waterway beneath the interstate bridge to a passage about 75 feet wide. The restriction is meant to keep kayakers, paddleboarders, rowers and fishing boats away from barges, cranes and other construction equipment.
The work is part of the I-35 Capital Express Central Project, which will widen the the bridge over Lady Bird Lake from 13 lanes to 18 lanes and add a standalone pedestrian bridge east of the interstate.
The Austin Rowing Club says the route for boaters can be confusing from water level and worries the 75-foot width could be too narrow for two-way traffic, considering the popularity of the lake.
"It's a little harder to see from water level where the actual passageway is under the bridge," said Carol Baxter, managing director of the Austin Rowing Club. "It says 'Keep Out,' but does it mean could you go through this buoy or that buoy?"
"We asked for lights, more signage, potentially a buoy line going in between the buoys to indicate like a chute that you would know you could safely go under the bridge in that path," Baxter said.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) says the current setup is safe and doesn't need to change right now.
The 75-foot passage has been in place since January and is expected to remain until the bridge is rebuilt, which could take until 2033. The exact location of the passage will shift as construction moves across the water.
A premiere boating destination
Lady Bird Lake is one of Austin's prime attractions, drawing more than 1,000 paddleboarders to the water on the busiest weekend afternoons, according to Austin Police.
This stretch of the Colorado River is also one of the most alluring rowing destinations in the United States: approximately 6 miles long, relatively calm, open year-round and framed by city scenery. Motorboats can only have electric motors with no more than 5 horsepower, which keeps them slow.
The Austin Rowing Club operates from the city-owned Waller Creek Boathouse at the end of Trinity Street. Baxter calls it "the best kept secret on the lake." The nonprofit offers classes, guided tours, and rents kayaks and paddleboards. The club also holds two racing events per year, bringing rowing teams from across the U.S. to Lady Bird Lake.
The I-35 construction has complicated those operations.
Baxter said a barge damaged part of the club's race course before the Heart of Texas Regatta in February. The event still happened, but she said they had to scramble to repair the course. Now, the club is rethinking its fall race because the normal route requires boats to pass under I-35.
A 75-foot passage may sound wide. But rowing shells can be about as long as a school bus. With oars extended, two boats side-by-side can take up much of the available space, which must also be shared with other lake users.
Retro Boats, which rents out vintage fiberglass boats from the 1950s and 1960s with updated electric motors, said the construction is forcing them to change the route they have used for about five years.
"We're going to try to open it up down a little bit further [west]," said Helana Sharar, the company's general manager. "But we need to keep it safe still, because we don't want people getting too close to Zilker with all the kayakers and the paddle boarders hanging out down there."
'Not a great place for an amateur'
Austin Police say they have not seen major problems around the I-35 construction zone so far.
Lt. Elijah Myrick, who oversees APD's Lake Patrol Unit, said the narrowed passage could become an issue as summer kicks into full swing and more people get on the water.
"Boats aren't like vehicles. You don't hit the brakes and it stops," Myrick said. "So you just need to be extra careful anywhere where you're around this construction that's going on under I-35."
Myrick advised less experienced boaters simply to stay away from the waters beneath I-35 for now.
"I think this is probably not a great place for an amateur to deploy a paddleboard," Myrick said. "You have heavy machinery. If you've ever been on a paddle board before, once again, you don't just stop. They're not equipped with anchors, right? So wind plays a concern."
TxDOT defends passageway
TxDOT says 75 feet was as wide as they could go without making it impractical for the contractor rebuilding the bridge.
"You get too much bigger and then it starts to conflict with where the barge may be or where the new drill shaft may go," said Willie Semora, director of construction in TxDOT's Austin District. "It just worked really well with our working conditions."
The work zone includes white buoys, some with lights on them, and beacons on the construction barges. Semora defended the setup, saying it's "better than what you see on some of the larger coastal waterways and lakes."
"At this point, we're not looking to make a change," Semora said. "We feel like that we've got it to a quality safe work zone. Obviously, we're always evaluating that, though."
Semora said there could also be "one-off scenarios" when the passageway could close entirely, such as when crews are setting bridge beams.
Baxter said the rowing club can work around the construction, but only if it knows what to expect.
"As much notice as we can get, we can figure it out," she said.
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