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The Cesar Chavez Street project will certainly allow automobile traffic to move more smoothly and intuitively through the downtown grid. But easier circulation for drivers is only one part of the improvements. The city has also built a 32-foot-wide tree-lined pedestrian esplanade between Cesar Chavez Street and Lady Bird Lake from Congress to South 1st Avenue. Traffic lights and clearly marked crosswalks should also make it easier for pedestrians to walk from the Lady Bird Lake trails and the new esplanade into downtown.
According to Gordon Derr, an engineer with the city's Public Works Department, there will be further pedestrian-friendly improvements in the area, including removing parking spaces from near the Buford Fire Tower at Colorado Street and replacing them with a plaza and pavilion. Nevertheless, as Austin Mayor Will Wynn discussed earlier today in an interview on KVUE News, the Cesar Chavez two-way project came in late and over budget. It remains to be seen how quickly and efficiently the city will be able to continue with its plans in our uncertain economic climate.
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Actually, on balance, it will be more difficult for pedestrians to cross Cesar Chavez - ignore the two-way kool-aid drinkers; it's a lot easier to cross one-way streets where you don't have to worry about car drivers trying to make a quick left in a small gap in oncoming traffic.