Rainey Street safety changes set to finish by this summer, where are we now?

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Permanent safety changes along Austin’s Rainey Street near Lady Bird Lake are set to come in under budget, and work will begin on the remaining improvements between now and July.

Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) announced the plans for the permanent changes last July, and said the plan was to have the project completed by this summer.

These permanent changes include lighting, fences and a sidewalk extension.

The city already installed “immediate temporary infrastructure” as part of this safety plan in March 2023, a week after friends and family members of people who went missing and/or died near the trail spoke at an Austin City Council Public Safety Committee meeting. These loved ones called for additional safety measures like lighting and surveillance cameras on the trail. They all expressed concerns and frustrations about not having definitive answers about what exactly happened.

Below is a list of the status of the permanent improvements at Rainey Street, provided by PARD.

• Camera at corner of Rainey and Cummings Streets installed in November 2023.
• Permitting for the lighting installation and sidewalk extension took place this spring
• Installation of lighting along the trail and along East Ave is in progress and slated to be complete by end of June.
• Contracting for the sidewalk extension work is underway. The work will take place in July.
• Contracting for additional fence improvements is complete and will start in June. The split rail fence that was installed in 2023 will be extended in multiple locations. There will also be a gate added to the top of the stairs across from the Milago.

“We love safety. We’re on board with that,” said Bob DiPasquale, who we spoke to with his wife Brette McLellan. “Bring on the light, because that makes it safer for us to walk the dogs.”

Rainey Street Trailhead project update

The Rainey Street Trailhead project is in a similar area, but run by The Trail Conservancy.

Charlotte Tonsor, executive projects director for The Trail Conservancy, said it should be done by July.

The project includes a revamp of the green space between Cummings Street, East Avenue and the river trail. See the map below.

Brainstorming and public input on the project began in 2019.

“Letting people see a landscape that functions so much better ecologically and to see that and have the beauty of the native grass and wildflowers, and to educate people about that too is just exciting,” Tonsor said.

Police say no foul play involved in recent deaths in Lady Bird Lake

This year, crews pulled two bodies from Lady Bird Lake – one near City Hall , and another near the Longhorn Dam . Authorities said the person found near City Hall was a woman. Police, at this point, are not ruling either of them a homicide. Another body was found near the lake .

Eleven bodies have been found in the lake since the beginning of 2022. One case involved a shooting and a car crash that happened near the water, and was considered an isolated incident. Police are not investigating any of the other cases as homicides, and say there is “no connection” between the cases and police have said public murmurings about a serial killer being involved are inaccurate.

Recently, an article has circulated depicting a scenario where a man said someone pushed him off of the West Sixth Street Bridge in June 2023.

KXAN looked into the case, obtaining the CAD call for the incident. It states a man fell off the bridge and that it was “accidental.” According to the CAD call, he was conscious, breathing and alert, and initially refused EMS treatment. Austin-Travis County EMS said he was alert and speaking with medics, and the agency ultimately took him to the hospital with serious injuries.

The Austin Police Department said the man did not file a police report related to this incident.

We spoke with the man mentioned in the article Wednesday morning, the day after this article published.

He said he was in town for a bachelor party, and after going out on West Sixth Street, he got separated from his friends and doesn’t recall what happened. He said he did not drink to the point of “blacking out,” and at the hospital, found out benzodiazepine was found in his system.

He told KXAN he does not remember what happened to him and does not know how he ended up on the banks of Shoal Creek under the bridge. While the article says the man believed he survived a serial killer, he told KXAN he never said that, nor used the term “Rainey Street Ripper.” He also clarified that he does not remember someone pushing him over the bridge, he just can’t imagine himself falling off any other way.

The man said the experience was traumatic, and he stayed in the hospital for about two weeks. His injuries included a broken back and several internal injuries, and the incident put him in a coma. He said he’s grateful to be alive.

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