Construction on the 0.8-mile stretch of Parkfield will progress in phases with the first chunk of improvements planned between Payton Gin Road and Rundberg Lane. These improvements are designed to make traveling the roadway safer for pedestrians, cyclists and people driving cars, according to the city.
During the first phase of construction on the segment of roadway between Payton Gin and Rundberg, city crews will add striping and install new buttons and flex posts to create temporary pedestrian crossing islands, according to Laura Dierenfield, Active Transportation Program manager for the city of Austin. The flex posts will be installed at the intersections at Colony Creek Drive and Woodfield Drive along Parkfield.
“That [work] is expected to be completed within the next month,” Dierenfield said.
New road markings, protected bike lanes, protected left turn pockets and high-visibility crosswalks will also all be included in this first stage of construction, city plans show.
Dierenfield said that once this phase of construction is done, the transportation department will expand the scope of the project beyond Parkfield to build pedestrian crossing islands at multiple locations around Wooldridge Elementary School.
Schematics from the city show crossing islands will be built at four intersections along Payton Gin. The city will build these structures at the intersections at Collinfield Drive and Viking Drive near Juan Navarro High School as well as at Tronewood Drive and Hunters Terrace near the entrance of the Quail Creek neighborhood.
Further crossing islands or raised crossings will be constructed closer to Wooldridge Elementary at the intersection of Hunters Terrace and Norsemen Terrace and along Colony Creek Drive and Norsemen Terrace near the entrances of the school.
These pedestrian improvements are being built as part of the city of Austin’s Safe Routes to School program, which builds infrastructure to ensure elementary and middle school students can get to school more safely. Dierenfield said construction of the crossing islands and other pedestrian improvements are scheduled to take place over the summer after the transportation department has finished with striping and marking Parkfield.
Parking will not be permitted along certain stretches of Parkfield during construction, and the city will soon erect temporary no-parking signs, according to transportation department documents. Once construction is complete, some designated on-street parking spots will be available on both sides of the road along the length of the project.
