Shared Streets

Shared Streets are neighborhood streets with low amounts of traffic, low speeds, and few or no sidewalks. Shared Streets will use traffic calming devices, such as gateways and signage, paint, flex posts, chicanes, curb extensions, traffic circles or planters. These elements will help make residential streets more comfortable for people walking, biking, or rolling and recognizable as a shared environment. 

Click on the corresponding image to learn about Shared Street projects.

Purpose

There are approximately 1,500 miles of missing sidewalks in Austin. At the current funding rate, it would take almost 100 years for the City of Austin to build sidewalks along all streets in Austin. Shared Streets are a more flexible option with fewer impacts on existing trees and landscaping than installing sidewalks, and they cost less to install than sidewalks. Shared Streets were introduced in the 2016 Sidewalk Plan, and the City is testing Shared Streets as it updates the Sidewalk Plan to better understand the role Shared Streets could have in the overall pedestrian network. Shared Streets, plus sidewalks, improved street crossings, and urban trails could help the City complete the pedestrian network more quickly. 

Pilot Projects

As part of the ATX Walk Bike Roll plan update process, the City of Austin is testing the Shared Street concept using temporary materials in locations across Austin. The City worked closely with residents along potential pilot streets to describe the purpose of the pilots, assess support, and identify street design options. The pilot projects will remain in place for approximately six to twelve months and will be evaluated before and after street design changes to help determine how well they worked. If pilot projects produce the desired outcomes and continue to have the support of residents along the street, the design changes will remain in place for longer than six months.

Locations

To identify potential locations for these pilot projects, the City looked for residential streets without sidewalks in areas where walking activity is expected to be relatively high and where vehicular traffic volume is low. Pilot projects will only be installed along streets where residents express strong support for Shared Streets.  

• Avenues G and H from East 51st to East 56th streets
• Ullrich Avenue and the Arroyo Seco area
• Princeton Drive and Ware Road off of Burleson Road
• Gloucester Lane and Edgedale Drive near Pecan Springs Elementary

Contact

For questions about this program, email SharedStreets@AustinTexas.gov