Here’s a Closer Look at Downtown’s Drake Bridge Commons Project

The Drake Bridge carrying First Street across Lady Bird Lake. That’s the W Austin in the background. Image: Wikimedia Commons

The bridge carrying First Street across Lady Bird Lake has held the official title of the “Drake Bridge” for 63 years of its 65-year existence — in other words, not exactly breaking news. Still, I’d bet my life that a vast majority of Austinites have no idea this is the case, perhaps even many of the people who were actually alive during the mayoral term of William Sherman Drake, Jr., who held office here at the time of the bridge’s completion in 1954.

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This uphill battle of public awareness is currently a major concern for the folks at the Trail Foundation, the organization tasked with the stewardship of Austin’s much-loved Hike and Bike Trail. The foundation, which recently celebrated its 15th anniversary, is preparing to kick off the first project under the umbrella of its Corgan Canopy Fund initiative — the Drake Bridge Commons, an effort to revitalize the area of the trail beneath the bridge on the north shore of the lake.

The current state of the trail segment underneath the Drake Bridge. Image: The Trail Foundation

“Most Austinites know Drake Bridge as the 1st Street Bridge, and there is little sense of the Trail at Drake Bridge as a place or destination.”

— The Trail Foundation

At present, this space is unlit, undeveloped, and relatively forgettable — a condition that, for what it’s worth, reflects the bridge’s own current anonymity in terms of low public awareness regarding its name or historic context.

A current view from the shore at the space underneath the Drake Bridge. Image: The Trail Foundation

With the help of Los Angeles-based design firm Rios Clementi Hale Studios, which established an Austin office earlier this year, the foundation recently unveiled two potential design concepts for improving the area underneath and around the bridge, creating a more memorable public space for downtown by literally bringing this part of the trail out of the shadows.

At a public engagement event held at the space last weekend, representatives of the foundation and RCH Studios presented their visions in an unorthodox way. Sure, they had renderings of the concepts on big boards like we’re used to, but they also hired a trio of improv actors to portray three historic Austinites — the aforementioned Mayor William Drake, Emma Long, and Walter Seaholm — all of whom played roles in local politics during the time of the bridge’s construction.

It’s kinda like that time Jim hired a Ben Franklin impersonator to troll Dwight, but it’s probably a better way to get people involved than making them stare at a bunch of boards. Anyway, here’s a closer look at the two design options for the Drake Bridge Commons, as presented last weekend: