10-1: Briefing on Water Line Relocation at Festival Beach — original pdf

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Briefing Item on WWL Relocation at Festival Beach Austin Water and Austin Parks and Recreation |February 2026 Agenda  Introductions  Impact of TxDOT's IH-35 Expansion Project  Overview of the Chapter 26 Process  Efforts to Collaborate and Minimize Impacts  Current Status and Next Steps 2 IH-35 CapEx Project Impact to Austin Water Infrastructure • Purpose of Relocation • Festival Beach Food Forest Partner Alternative Alignment IH-35 Project Overview  TxDOT’s IH-35 CapEx expansion is comprised of three main sections (North, Central, and South), spanning approximately 26 miles  Estimated total construction cost is $5.6 Billion.  TxDOT contractor started overall construction on IH-35 CapEx in May 2025. Presented by AW 4 IH-35 Project Overview - Relocations Approximate Total AW Pipeline Relocations constructed by TxDOT contractor. Water Relocations – 130,000 linear-feet South → North Wastewater Relocations – 35,000 linear feet South → North Presented by AW 5 IH-35 Project Overview – Festival Beach Presented by AW 6 Alternatives Considered • Traditional trenchless crossing of IH 35 from the west side of IH 35 to the east. • Extending the relocation from the west side of IH 35 to the east to eliminate this portion of the WWL via a deep tunnel. • The recently presented community preferred alternative was evaluated earlier in the project and not selected due to elevation/depth considerations. Presented by AW 7 Factors Forcing AW’s Relocation at FBFF Future Project Current Project TxDOT will lower main lanes of I-35 between Holly St & Airport Blvd Depression of I-35 forces abandonment of wastewater infrastructure crossing the highway, to be replaced by one 72-inch tunnel TxDOT will lower Waller Street Depression of Waller Street forces abandonment of 48-inch wastewater line adjacent to Food Forest Dominant Limitation - Tight slope constraints to reconnect wastewater line downstream and continue gravity flow. Length must be minimized. Downtown Wastewater Tunnel AW 8 Timeline TxDOT IH 35 FB Food Forest 2020-21 Preliminary Engineering 2021-22 Route Analysis 2022-23 Detailed Design Council Approves Expanding the Food Forest (July 29) 2023 Council Approves TxDOT Advanced Funding Agreement (Oct. 19) 2024 Chapter 26 Presentation to Parks Board (Nov. 25) 2025 Council Approval of Chapter 26 (Jan. 30) PARKnerships takes over coordination of PIMA Partner Agreement Executed (July) Presented by AW 9 Overview of the Ch. 26 Initial Steps of the Ch. 26 Process and Oversights • • Park Boundary • WWL Alignment/Impact Area • Future Preventative Steps Initial Steps of the Ch. 26 Initial Steps • Sponsor Department contacted APR staff for use of parkland in June 2024. • APR staff referenced GIS for impacts to parkland & had a site visit in June 2024. • APR staff and Sponsor Department project team convened additional project meetings from June – Nov 2024. • PARB reviewed the project in Nov 2024 & recommended it to Council who approved the Ch. 26 in Jan 2025. Oversight in the process • There was an internal communication breakdown within APR's Chapter 26 and PARKnership staff on how the temporary wastewater easement was going to negatively impact the Food Forest planting area. 11 Programmed Activity Shown on Parkland 2023 GIS Imagery 2026 GIS Imagery 12 WWL Alignment Area and Lack of Programmed Activity on Parkland May/June 2024 - Nash Hernandez Sr. Rd/Waller St. 13 WWL Alignment Impacting Parkland February 2026 14 Future Preventative Steps by APR Staff • Add the project boundary of Ch. 26 projects as a GIS layer. * • Develop a stakeholder list that is provided to the sponsoring City Department. * • Create & monitor a Ch. 26 Public Input Site where sponsor city departments will be required to provide project information. Any public input received will be used as backup for the PARB meeting. * • Monthly report of active Ch. 26 cases distributed to APR Planning, Operations & Maintenance, Community Parknership staff. * • Ensure APR's GIS Layer identifying parkland boundaries managed by partners is updated regularly. * Refers to a new requirement in the Draft Ch. 26 SOP 15 Collaboration and Minimizing Impacts Through collaboration, plants, trees and soil that will be impacted by construction were removed. Collaboration Efforts  Project Team Collaboration  Future Restoration Efforts  AW, APR and FBFF Partner will work on restoration of impacted area  Re-establish berms, soil, plants and irrigation  AW to fund water meter and drinking fountain  AW coordinated with APR PARKnership team, APR Forestry staff, and FBFF Partner on plant removal workdays (soil, plants, irrigation)  AW provided soil, fertilizer, materials, snacks for volunteers and relocation of the Mountain Laurel  AW staff, including Wildlands staff with plant expertise, participated in workdays  APR provided and funded equipment, delivery of hardwood mulch, organic compost and supplies  APR Forestry reviewed tree pruning 17 Collaboration Work Relocation of Mountain Laurel Tree 18 Current Status and Next Steps • Construction Timeline • Future Restoration Efforts Current Status  Construction Timeline  Started February 18  Construction Duration 6-8 weeks  Future Restoration Efforts  City to coordinate with TxDOT contractor on project completion date  Work with FBFF Partner on restoration efforts to equal or better condition 20 Questions? Project Team Ricardo Soliz, Park Planning Division Manager, APR Ricardo.Soliz@austintexas.gov Gregory Montes, Program Manager, APR Gregory.Montes@austintexas.gov Kevin Koeller, Division Manager, AW Kevin.Koeller@austintexas.gov Adewale Odufuye, Consulting Engineer / Program Manager, CDS Adewale.Odufuye@austintexas.gov 22