Since January, Travis Heights' Walk to the Lake Has Been Rewired. This Week Adds Another Detour.

From Monday, October 12, through Sunday, October 18, TxDOT crews have the Lady Bird Lake south-shore Boardwalk at I-35 fully closed while they build the new pedestrian bridge. It's the latest step in a year of changes on the east edge of Travis Heights and South River City. Since January, the car underpass at Woodland Avenue has closed for good, the walking path on the east side of the I-35 lake bridge has closed, and a new three-way pedestrian bridge has opened downriver at Pleasant Valley.

For anyone in the neighborhood who walks, runs, or rides to the water, the I-35 corner now runs on a published schedule. The Trail Conservancy, which maintains the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail, says full, continuous closures of the trail and waterway near the bridge are capped at three a year, and none can last more than a week. The rest of the time, the routes work if you know which side of the highway they're on.

Four weeks in winter reset the corner

Most of the change happened between mid-January and mid-February.

Woodland went first and has the longest local history. KUT reported that South River City Citizens had opposed closing the car crossing ever since the idea came up in 2013, warning it could lengthen police, fire, and EMS response times.

Drivers who used to cross at Woodland now take the frontage roads and make a U-turn at Riverside or Oltorf. People on foot go to the Oltorf Street bridge instead, which KUT says adds more than a mile to the trip.

What still works at I-35

The I-35 corner is still crossable. The changes moved the open routes to the west side of the highway and underneath it. Here's what TxDOT and The Trail Conservancy list as open outside full-closure weeks:

• The west sidewalk on the southbound I-35 frontage-road bridge is still the way across Lady Bird Lake at I-35. The east-side path is the one that's closed.
• The staircase and the lower Boardwalk stay open apart from intermittent construction closures, even though the ramp from the frontage road at Riverside is gone.
• Boardwalk access points at South Lakeshore Boulevard east of I-35 and at the trail entrance west of I-35.
• Temporary pedestrian signals at Manlove Street and Edgecliff Terrace for crossing Riverside Drive, because the north sidewalk on Riverside is closed through 2029.
• The south sidewalk on Riverside, plus new temporary pedestrian signals, for crossing I-35 at Riverside itself.

On the water, paddlers have a 75-foot-wide passage under the middle of the I-35 bridge, away from the work zones, through 2033. The Holiday Inn boat ramp on the north shore west of I-35 is limited to emergency vehicles for the same stretch.

This week, and the detour after it

The October 12–18 closure covers the south-shore Boardwalk at I-35. While it's in place, The Trail Conservancy points people to the South Lakeshore Boulevard access point east of the highway or the trail entrance west of it, and says signs will be in place to alert trail users.

After the full closure ends, the Conservancy says crews will limit access on part of the south-shore Boardwalk through early 2027 while the pedestrian bridge east of I-35 goes up, though trail users will still be able to pass under the I-35 bridge.

Monday, October 19, brings a separate, unrelated detour on the other end of the south shore. For two days, the stretch between the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge and the MoPac Colorado River Railroad Bridge reroutes onto the West Riverside Drive sidewalk. Anyone planning a long south-shore run that week will hit both changes within a few days of each other.

The two crossings the Conservancy recommends

With the east-side I-35 path closed, The Trail Conservancy suggests crossing the lake at South Congress or at the Wishbone Pedestrian Bridge at Pleasant Valley.

South Congress. The Congress Avenue redesign that began construction on Jan. 30 is downtown, between Cesar Chavez and 7th streets. The city's construction guidance for that work says pedestrian access will be maintained. The Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge is outside that funded phase. The city's project materials list bridge improvements as part of a longer-term vision, not current work.

The Wishbone Bridge. It opened on February 7, the same week the east-side I-35 crossing closed. It joins three shorelines near Longhorn Dam: the trail at Longhorn Shores, Canterbury Street, and the Holly Peninsula in Town Lake Metropolitan Park. The shared-use path is 24 feet wide, and the central plaza is about 65 feet across. KUT reported that the Y shape got its nickname from residents' suggestions and was chosen for the way it reaches all three shorelines. The Unity Underpass, built with it, runs beneath Pleasant Valley Road and connects the trail to Roy G. Guerrero Park and Krieg Fields.

The city budgeted roughly $25 million for the project through the 2020 Mobility Bond. According to KUT, Rep. Greg Casar secured more than $4 million in federal funding after costs came in higher than expected. Jay-Reese Contractors built it, the City owns it, and The Trail Conservancy maintains it.

Early reactions were positive. A trail user told The Daily Texan the new route feels safer and quieter and gives cyclists and pedestrians more room. A Holly resident told the Austin Free Press she and her partner expected to use it for daily bike trips.

Loop math after the remeasurement

The Wishbone also changed the trail's distances. The Trail Conservancy remeasured the Butler Trail to include the Holly Shores Lakefront Trail and the Wishbone crossing, and the updated mileage is on its trail markers and welcome signs. The full loop is listed as 10 miles. The Conservancy's All Access map also labels shorter loops of 1.2, 1.5, and 3.0 miles.

So if your watch disagrees with what you remember from last year, the course itself may have changed, and the posted markers are the current measurement.

The calendar from here

These are the dates TxDOT and its partners have published for the Lady Bird Lake segment, which runs from Holly Street to Ben White Boulevard. TxDOT marks its schedules as subject to change.

1. Late 2026. TxDOT's segment page says East Avenue under the I-35 lake bridge is closed "through late 2026." No more recent source confirms that this is still on track.
2. Early 2027. Limited access on part of the south-shore Boardwalk is scheduled to end. The east-side lake crossing closure was described in February as lasting "approximately one year," and the Conservancy's detours page gives no specific reopening date.
3. Phase beginning 2026. The new east pedestrian bridge over Lady Bird Lake. TxDOT's fact sheet describes two standalone pedestrian bridges, each up to 24 feet wide, with shade structures and scenic lookouts.
4. Through 2029. The Riverside north sidewalk and the Boardwalk ramp stay closed, and the frontage-road traffic shifts at Riverside stay in place.
5. As soon as 2029. Possible construction start for the pedestrian and cycling bridge at Woodland Avenue. KUT described it as 75 feet wide, and the rendering shows benches and a shade structure.
6. 2029 to 2033. The west pedestrian bridge over the lake.
7. 2033. Expected completion of the segment, weather permitting. Balfour Beatty Construction is the contractor.

For the dates between now and then, the most reliable references are The Trail Conservancy's detours page, which listed this week's closure and the October 19 detour as of October 9, and TxDOT's Lady Bird Lake segment page, which has the closure maps and an email sign-up for updates.

Ruth and Evonne have been following the I-35 work along Travis Heights' east edge, from the Woodland closure to the bridge phases still ahead. If you live near Riverside or Woodland and want to talk through how the construction schedule affects your street, or what it could mean for a future sale, Powers Property Group is glad to talk it through. Request a Personalized Consultation.