Austin officials widen sidewalks, add barriers on Sixth Street to improve safety and downtown vitality

Mayor Kirk Watson and city public-safety and transportation officials on Tuesday announced temporary street changes on Austin’s Sixth Street to widen sidewalks, add rubber curbs and fencing and alter vehicle access on weekend days to improve pedestrian safety and support downtown revitalization.

The announcement came at Parkside, a restaurant on Sixth Street, where Watson said the city will monitor the changes and adjust them as needed. “Sixth Street must be safe,” Watson said, calling the corridor “the living room of the entire community.”

The plan, overseen by the Austin Police Department and the Transportation and Public Works Department, includes rubber curbs and white flex posts between Brazos and Red River streets to separate newly widened sidewalks from vehicle lanes and temporary fencing behind those curbs to discourage pedestrians from stepping into traffic. Anna Martin, assistant director with the Transportation and Public Works Department, described the new hardware in detail: city staff “have installed rubber curves and white flex posts between Brazos and Red River Street to separate the widened sidewalks from the…