There would be a community process to decide this. We envision a mix of existing businesses that would like to expand outside their present footprint and new uses such as food vendors, artist galleries, micro-work spaces, and restrooms.

There are only 120 parking spaces on Congress, which represents just 0.2% of all parking downtown.

It would be easy to improve access to downtown, whether you drive or otherwise. The Downtown Austin Alliance’s Parking Strategy recommends that private parking be shared with the public, better signage pointing people to available parking, and improving alternatives to driving, such as public transportation discounts and better sidewalks and bicycle lanes.

Our plan would create more disabled parking spaces and short term loading spaces on cross streets, so that nobody would be more than half a block from their destination.

Our plan uses the pop-up plaza design to allow us to test a car-free space without committing to it. We start with holding short events lasting a few days and gradually hold longer and longer events. If the longer events work then one day we could just keep the gates shut and we’d instantly have our car-free space.

This design is known as a “festival street” (see illustration from Portland) and its features include:

• Always-present barriers at both end of every block: These allow the street to be closed quickly and easily. Options include swing gates and retractable bollards.
• No raised sidewalks: This means that during events there’s more usable space, people can more easily cross the street, and businesses can more easily participate. Curbless streets have other advantages, such as easier loading and disability access.
• Something protecting the pedestrian/bicycling area from traffic: This could be bollards, concrete blocks, or something else.
• Special pavement: Festival streets usually have decorative pavement that encourages slower driving.

See here for a detailed examination of Portland’s Chinatown festival streets.

The plan focuses on 7th to 11th Streets because:

• Congress Avenue is the heart of Austin.
• This stretch connects to iconic destinations, including the Paramount Theater, the Austin Contemporary, and the State Capitol.
• Traffic reduces significantly north of 6th Street.
• There would be no impacts on transit.
• A plaza longer than 4 blocks would greatly increase the challenge of keeping the space lively, although the space could expand in the future if it were successful.

Many countries with successful car-free streets get as hot as Austin; they keep people around by providing shade, water misters, and water-based play areas.