Living Streets program expands pilot activations, eyes permanent shared-street conversions

Living Streets organizers and city staff told the Mobility Committee on Jan. 23 that the temporary street-activation program has expanded its reach and is testing new equipment and pilot layouts to improve safety, equity and neighborhood buy-in.

The presentation showed the program now combines neighborhood block parties, healthy streets and play streets under the Living Streets banner, and city staff said quarterly rollout and renewal cycles let them scale installations while supporting application processing.

"There is less traffic, and it is slower," said Kate Ainsworth, organizer of the South Austin expansion, describing resident perceptions of the program and citing increased participation at neighborhood events. "People feel safer." The presentation included a recorded child comment played for the committee that said, in part, "I like the healthy streets because it's a lot safer for us to cross the street." The recording and resident surveys are part of staff outreach to people who cannot attend meetings in person.

Matt Majaj, a presenter for the Living Streets program, walked the committee through recent program metrics and operational changes. Staff said the program launched about 18 activations in an initial round and has since moved to quarterly activations; recent rounds brought the program to 37 activations beginning in February. Staff reported progress expanding applications from historically underrepresented areas: the share of applications from medium-high and most-vulnerable communities rose from about 18% in the first round to roughly 37% in later rounds.

Staff described operational lessons from play streets: long street lengths and multiple control points reduced resident ability to supervise activity and increased staffing burdens for volunteers. Majaj said one closure example was "a 1,000 linear feet, just slightly under a quarter mile" where control points prevented monitors from seeing the whole block. The program is testing shorter activity zones and a chicane-style design that slows vehicles without fully closing the street.

The program also won a Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant from the Federal Highway Administration. Majaj said the grant allows the city to flex about $1,500,000 for demonstration techniques to test more inviting, crashworthy closure equipment and support a two-and-a-half-year behavior-change pilot. "The end goal is to create the behavior change over 2 and a half years where we can have a different style of living street," Majaj said.

Staff said Living Streets remain temporary by design ("temporary. It lasts 6 months," Majaj said) with an option to renew; those neighborhoods that pursue permanence will be considered for shared-street conversions that add curb extensions, pinch points and other low-infrastructure treatments. A South Austin installation is already moving from a temporary activation to a planned shared-street design, staff said.

Committee members raised equity and outreach questions. Vice Chair Zoe Caudrey and newly seated Council Member Krista Lane urged targeted outreach to districts with low participation (districts 2 and 6 were singled out in staff comments). Majaj said the program has been deliberately advertising citywide with extra emphasis on equity zones to increase participation from vulnerable communities.

The committee asked staff to continue refining play-street designs, to share results from the SS4A-funded demonstrations and to coordinate with Transportation and Public Works on possible durable treatments. Staff also said they will look at procurement and bond opportunities to finance conversions from temporary activations to shared-street or complete-street infrastructure.

The presentation included operational cautions: Majaj noted that the orange-cone closures can be perceived as construction, invoking the Texas Uniform Code for Transportation, and that equipment clutter and volunteer staffing requirements affected renewal decisions on some streets. The committee asked staff to pursue closure equipment that better balances safety and neighborhood aesthetics.

The committee did not take a formal vote on the Living Streets program at the meeting. Staff said they will return with follow-up details and next steps.