1995 The City of Austin and various partners begin planning for a greenway trail along Walnut Creek from Northwest Austin to the Colorado River – a brochure is published by the City to promote this effort – Walnut Creek Greenway Brochure . The waterfall pictured on the cover is in our beloved Balcones Park!
May 2010 – Construction begins on Northern Walnut Creek Trail in Balcones Park – originally planned to extend from Balcones Park to Walnut Creek Metro Park.
August 2013 – Construction resumes on Northern Walnut Creek Trail.
2014 Southern Walnut Creek Trail opens to trail users
May 2016 Northern Walnut Creek Trail from Mopac to Walnut Creek Metro Park opens to trail users (cost overruns lead to deletion of Balcones Park to Mopac section with plans to complete as a separate project)
June 2016 Construction begins on Northern Walnut Creek Trail “Phase 1A segments 1-2” – consisting of a portion of the Balcones Park to Mopac trail section.
December 2017 – Northern Walnut Creek Trail “Phase 1A segments 1-2” – consisting of a portion of the Balcones Park to Mopac trail section opens to the public.
April 2018 -Construction begins on Northern Walnut Creek Trail “Phase 1A” segments 3-5 -consisting of the remaining trail portions in Balcones Park.
December 2018 Northern Walnut Creek Trail “Phase 1A” segments 3-5 -consisting of the remaining trail portions in Balcones Park. Design defects are immediately apparent when December rains wash out hundreds of feet of trail shoulder.
Sept 2019 – City announces repairs to remedy some of the design defects will begin 9/30/2019
The city website for these projects can be found here: https://data.austintexas.gov/stories/s/Walnut-Creek-Trail-System/v3dz-djp9
Future projects in the design and planning stages include
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Section 2: Northern Walnut Creek Trail (Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park to IH-35)
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Section 3: Northern Walnut Creek Trail (Connection between Southern and Northern Walnut Creek Trails)
We note that different dates are reported on the city website for some of the trail opening dates. The dates we provide above are based on notices, announcements and other correspondence we received from the city.
