It's a push to make part of downtown Austin more pedestrian-friendly -- construction is in full swing along part of 2nd Street.
Second Street at San Antonio was "phase one" of the city's Street Improvement Project. It was finished in 2004 and is very pedestrian friendly. People can walk around, shop and eat. The city wants to make the rest of 2nd Street more like it.
A new phase of improvements to 2nd Street between Congress and Colorado began this week. The nearly $3 million upgrade is part of the city's Great Streets Program.
The city says it'll take about 45 days to finish this part of the project and workers will add things like new sidewalks, parking, landscaping, new lighting, benches, bike racks, even artwork. It's a continued push to make the 2nd Street corridor more pedestrian-friendly.
The final result will be thoroughfares better suited to strollers than speeders. The entire project will completely reconstruct 2nd Street from Colorado to Trinity and Colorado from 3rd Street to Cesar Chavez. The goal is to link Austin City Hall and the Austin Convention Center complex.
"We're gonna be embarking street by street kind of doing the same thing to a lot of streets downtown. Brazos and Colorado will be next," said Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell. "Downtown has to be a nice place, has to be a friendly place to live as well as work."
