Good info Austar!

Correct...no major flood on the river in the city in recent times. Wasn't there a major flood in the 30s or one of those early decades? I remember seeing a photo of a house floating down the river within the city.

Before Mansfield Dam and Lake Travis were created around 1940 (I think the other Highland Lakes behind Lake Travis came later), there was regular flooding in the area immediately south of downtown on the southern banks of the original river bed. Downtown is situated on higher ground and was not subject to flooding. There were major floods in the 20s and maybe again sometime in the early 1930s.

Good information!

Aren't there areas near Red Bud Isle Park where the original dam (that preceded Tom Miller Dam)? That one burst with a major flood at some point - perhaps the one in the 30s?

Yes, part of Red Bud Isle is remnants of the previous 2 dams, the rest are encased in the concrete of Tom Miller Dam (the second part I did not know):

(from https://notevenpast.org/rise-and-fall-austin-dam/)

Does anyone know the story behind the depth/width of lady bird lake? How was it determined?

That is a great question. I don't know the answer, other than (from my experience boating/kayaking/SUP boarding) Ladybird Lake is very shallow for most of it's width. It's not LCRA controlled like Lake Austin and the Highland Lakes upstream, yet the level is kept at a steady 428 ft ASL. Realistically that translates to about a depth of 4' or so in most places (you can stand up) except the original riverbed where it may be significantly deeper but only for a narrow width. Problem is that original riverbed meanders underneath where you see the water cover, so the deeper portions may be anywhere under the surface. Plus you have the Seaholm intakes. So drowning can and does occur despite the fact it is much more shallow in most places than you would expect.

Thanks for all the info!

Another great shot of our beautiful city! http://i.ibb.co/JtWKWK3/411-CAF76-73...8-BD0-C44.jpg"

.

skyline from Zilker

https://scontent-dfw5-2.xx.fbcdn.net...60&oe=5DD60EC3

Such a beautiful city!

Tom, I didn't know you were a photographer until I saw some postings here. Really, really nice photo of the skyline (and different from what we usually see).

Thank you! Re: this view, yes - I am surprised we don't see this more often. It was taken behind the garden center building in Zilker.

Austin isn’t so old as to need vaseline on the camera lens yet? ;) Or maybe it is. :shrug::P

Funny
 

I guess I used my selfie editing technique ;-)

Hahaha! Austin, the Barbra Streisand of cities. :haha:

Great photo!

In terms of what we saw pre daming times that is true, however the Colorado River has overflowed it's banks twice in the last 8 years. The first time since the dam's were built. 2013 and 2015.

AviationGuy's claim is accurate. The river did not flood downtown in 2013 & 2015...the creeks flowing into Lady Bird Lake (aka the lower Colorado River) did. In fact, during those floods (and several others), down flow of the river was not the major cause of downtown damage by any recent flood. Again, it was flow from the creeks which lead into LBL.

The dams have saved downtown Austin from major floods caused by down flow, of the Colorado River, from the Hill Country.

Some great updates.

DT is higher up so would take a lot to overflow that side but the river did overflow its banks. You can see pictures showing that it did and away from the Creek outflows. There is Meteorological data that also shows that. The issue is not upstream flooding but prolonged intense rainfall over the city proper which can flow into Ladybird Lake at such a high rate, that the city cannot send the water through Longhorn Dam quickly enough. In both cases that is what happened. A combination of factors play a part in why this occurred from continued urbanization along the creeks drainage basins i.e. increased impervious cover, to more extreme rainfalls and the frequency that we are seeing them increase. It's not the same as a huge flood wave coming from upstream, but it is an issue that the city has to deal with and will be dealing with on a more frequent basis in the future especially along the lower shorelines. Higher shorelines will not be affected.

I did not say anything about DT flooding but it definitely flooded the lower shoreline along the river. You can see pictures of the Stevie Ray Vahn statue surrounded by water up to the top of the podium where the statue sits.

The Stevie Ray Vaughan statue had water nearly up to his elbows in one of those floods. At that point, the water would have been about 4 feet deep. Still, I don't really consider the shoreline and trails to be "downtown". The south side floods more than the north because it's lower in elevation. Some of the shoreline north of the river is upwards of 30 feet higher than the river is, whereas the south shore is pretty much right at the water's edge, and it doesn't take much to put it under water. Goldenboot is right, of course, the worst flooding in and around downtown that happened in the Memorial Day flood was mostly because of Shoal Creek on the west side of downtown around 8th & Lamar and a few blocks east toward West Avenue. It also flooded pretty bad between 10th & Lamar, and around 12th & 15th Street. House Stadium Park was pretty much under water.

SRV Statue/shoreline during the Halloween flood.
https://www.google.com/search?q=stev...ih=937#imgrc=_

West side of downtown during the Memorial Day flood.
https://www.google.com/search?safe=o...uact=5#imgrc=_

I have to respectfully disagree. :) This thread is crap for updates because there is too much to post about for a single thread. One needs to visit the Austin sub-forum for actual updates.

If you pay for my travel and lodging, I'll revisit Austin and see for myself.

How about a free trip to the Austin sub-forum instead:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/forumdisplay.php?f=446

Yassss.

Way to go AUS!!!

With today's announcement, AUS, in 2020, will have scheduled non-stop flights to 10 international gateways (with the possibility of more to come...)!


- Amsterdam [KLM (A333)]
- Calgary [WestJet (B738)]
- Cancun [Southwest (B738), Spirit (A319), Sun Country (B738) & United (B738)]
- Frankfurt [Lufthansa (A333)]
- London-Gatwick [Norwegian (B789)]
- London-Heathrow [British (B744 & B773)]
- Mexico City [Aeromexico (E190)]
- Paris-Charles de Gaulle [Norwegian (B789)]
- San Jose del Cabo [Southwest (B738)]
- Toronto [Air Canada (E175)]

That’s awesome news! I would love a Tokyo direct flight hope that’s next hehe :)

It's really 9 international destinations but 10 international airports.

I wouldn't count London twice even if AUS has flights to both Heathrow and Gatwick.

Congrats on the CDG pick up!

Looks like Norwegian is already looking at Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Rome, Barcelona and/or Madrid from AUS.

Also, it seems the airport has been in close talks with two Asian SkyTeam members: Korean Air and China Eastern...hummmmm.


Way to go, AUS!!!

I'm surprised these haven't been posted over here yet...Or maybe they have and I missed it.


1) 311 West Seventh - New, ~40-story development near 6xGuad is working its way through the city entitlement process now:

https://i.imgur.com/karMuK6.png


2) The Railyard - A new development on the site where the old Railyard condos are. My cousin used to live there. Great location - had lots of fun there. Karlin Real Estate (Los Angeles) paid just under $1500/SF for the ~1.62 ac property (a record). They are marketing the following for the site. Could be Austin's first supertall:

https://i1072.photobucket.com/albums...psuehbgegk.jpg
https://i1072.photobucket.com/albums...psazqdlbot.jpg
https://i1072.photobucket.com/albums...psztaa8tnu.jpg
https://i1072.photobucket.com/albums...ps73b66fma.jpg
https://i1072.photobucket.com/albums...psjykhks0e.jpg
https://i1072.photobucket.com/albums...psrmlqpcdu.jpg

^ Wow!

Anyone know projected height of the railyard?

It seems to be around 1,100'. BUT that is a vision in a marketing flyer. The good news is that Karlin who was marketing the site is the one who bought it. They will be going tall, but no site plan has been submitted yet.

Holy moly, hope its a supertall, Austin needs one bad.

Suspect it’s only a matter of time. Austin is a phenomenon.

Agree. Karlin spent a record amount (over $100 million) for the land and they'll want to see a return on that investment.

There are no height impediments on that land. And, one would not market the site without already having an idea of the project in mind. The brochure was quite detailed.

Yes bring on the super tall in Austin!!

Awesome! This city is always coming up with something new and exciting!

Most of Austin's tallest projects don't get posted about in this thread. But to sum it up, we now have over 40 projects proposed or U/C that are between 300' and 850'. It's hard to comprehend that many towers going up in addition to what has already been built during the past several years.

can someone post a panoramic pic?

wow

Yeah this thread isn’t updated as much as the other Austin threads, but we have a ton of major projects underway. Austin is booming!

i wonder what the zoning regs are here (if any).

Since this thread doesn't get updated much, here's a general update by the numbers. I'm almost ready to post my final Tallest Austin Projects list of the year in the sticky development links thread in the Austin subforum. But I'm waiting for height info on three projects that I will add to the list once I have it, and I'm also waiting for two more significant groundbreakings that could happen in December. The fact that we have 41 projects in the works that are between 300' and 850' is amazing for a metro of 2.2 million. That total only includes projects announced by developers and/or have had city documents/permits filed. It doesn't include planned projects like the Railyard condos site towers and the Brackenridge campus redevelopment site towers. Of course nobody including me expects all 41 to be built. But more than 1/3 of them (14) have already broken ground. This is all on top of what has already been built over the past several years.

Yet another 600+ footer for downtown Austin. This one is all office (41 floors & 634'). It's being called: Tower 5c (I assume that is for its location at 5th and Colorado).

https://austin.towers.net/wp-content...4809267714.jpg
https://austin.towers.net/wp-content...4805420904.jpg
https://austin.towers.net/wp-content...ion_detail.jpg

Now that is sexy! I like how it isn’t another asymmetrical geometric box pile. The crown is going to really stand out and become a recognizable landmark.

That'll be a nice addition to the skyline!

Just wondering, are all of these towers going to be built in/near downtown or other areas of the city as well?