Gnarnia: N. Shoal Creek/Pickle Research Center Connector

[June Bug]

On Thursday I decided to check the progress on the sidewalk replacing the singletrack trail connecting the north end of Shoal Creek and the little business park immediately to the south of the UT Austin Pickle Research Center. This is the little section called Narnia or Gnarnia that runs between a retention pond and the railroad tracks.  There is also a substantially wide sidewalk going in along the access road on the south side of 183. I'm guessing that will connect to Burnet Road, but not sure what the ultimate connectivity is for that.  This first image shows that big sidewalk, looking east.  The next image shows the sidewalk replacing the single track (looking north). I'm glad the city is working on connectivity, but that little bit of singletrack had the most amazing wildflowers in spring and summer.  My personal sacrifice was that while walking over to take the second photo,  I tripped on a truly sneaky dewberry vine and went sprawling for my efforts. 

 

  

 No work had been started in the little section where the access road loops under 183 and there's not much room between the curb and the railroad track. 

Edited October 16, 2018 by June Bug

[circuitbreaker]

i wish they would connect this piece to metric in some way. then you could get from wells branch all the way downtown on shoal creek uninterrupted. 

Thanks for the update.

[FJsnoozer]

I rode it today downtown - walnut (to see if it was dry)

North on shoal creek
Left on Steck into Bike lane
Right on sidewalk which goes all the way to underpass after Braker
Enter driveway Hyde park Quarries Driveway
Hit singletrack at beginning over RR track and through other fence.
Continue all the way on bike path across Duval to the Walnut Creek Bike path drop in.

This has been the best and most uninterrupted route I have ever done to walnut.
The singletrack cut through is at the start of that fence in this picture:




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[TAF]

So you didn't check out Gnarnia at all, by the looks of it.

[FJsnoozer]

So you didn't check out Gnarnia at all, by the looks of it.

I did. The elbow is poured after the soccer fields. They were working on the route along the track and had the forms up

My route is a much better route for me because if you use gnarnia from Downtown, everything north of there is sketchy and or annoying to ride on domain/breaker/metric.

It’s much easier and safer to cross braker at mopac than at Burnet due to the way the lights work.

I’m ok with an extra mile if I am moving for that mile vs standing at a stoplight and hitting 5+ stop signs in the domain.

I also dislike the EB route going North. It’s slow and has lots of waiting and dodging cars.


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[circuitbreaker]

1 hour ago, FJsnoozer said:

Left on Steck into Bike lane
Right on sidewalk which goes all the way to underpass after Braker
Enter driveway Hyde park Quarries Driveway
 

 

So, it looks something like this? I've never checked out that Hyde Park Quarries area:

Also, I believe there's now a pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks you mention.

[FJsnoozer]

 
So, it looks something like this? I've never checked out that Hyde Park Quarries area:
Also, I believe there's now a pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks you mention.

You got it. I had a little time to explore and there is now a cut through where I posted the Photo. In the past I had gone through the domain and used the singletrack along braker to get back to shoal creek.


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[Scorpionwoman]

I prefer to cross Braker at the north entrance to the Pickle Campus. I don't trust the cars going north on Mopac frontage and making the turn onto Braker. There is no stop built into their flow, since they have a protected lane.

 

Once you cross Braker, if you skirt the Domain along the perimeter on the south and west sides, stop signs and traffic are minimal. Stay along the fence to go under Mopac, then turn north to head up to Duval on the sidewalk that runs in front of Nat'l Instruments.

 

That's probably not as efficient as the straight-along-Mopac-frontage option, but I'm not a big fan of riding so close to all those cars. Looking forward to the paved path being completed between the tracks and the soccer fields. It'll make for cleaner commuting!

[FJsnoozer]

I prefer to cross Braker at the north entrance to the Pickle Campus. I don't trust the cars going north on Mopac frontage and making the turn onto Braker. There is no stop built into their flow, since they have a protected lane.
 
Once you cross Braker, if you skirt the Domain along the perimeter on the south and west sides, stop signs and traffic are minimal. Stay along the fence to go under Mopac, then turn north to head up to Duval on the sidewalk that runs in front of Nat'l Instruments.
 
That's probably not as efficient as the straight-along-Mopac-frontage option, but I'm not a big fan of riding so close to all those cars. Looking forward to the paved path being completed between the tracks and the soccer fields. It'll make for cleaner commuting!

That’s what I am referring to.

The path is completed from Steck all the way to the RR track at domain along Mopac.

All you have to do is wait for one person to make eye contact and wave and you are clear to cross the turn lane.

You must contend with the two entrances into arbor walk, but it wasn’t bad.


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[TAF]

56 minutes ago, FJsnoozer said:

I did. The elbow is poured after the soccer fields. They were working on the route along the track and had the forms up

My route is a much better route for me because if you use gnarnia from Downtown, everything north of there is sketchy and or annoying to ride on domain/breaker/metric.

It’s much easier and safer to cross braker at mopac than at Burnet due to the way the lights work.

I’m ok with an extra mile if I am moving for that mile vs standing at a stoplight and hitting 5+ stop signs in the domain.

I also dislike the EB route going North. It’s slow and has lots of waiting and dodging cars.

 

 

Fair enough. The thread is about the status of Gnarnia, so you had me confused. I guess it's now about FJ's northbound routes :-)

[FJsnoozer]

Fair enough. The thread is about the status of Gnarnia, so you had me confused. I guess it's now about FJ's northbound routes :-)

When I view on Tapatalk, the image displayed I thought was the new sidewalk being poured under the northbound feeder parallel to Gnarnia. I assume this all part of the same phase of a city mobility project. They both achieve the same access goals in different ways. It’s nice to have options for once!

 

I also tried to loop in that new section of Balcones that you recommended for good measure [emoji6]

 

 

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[June Bug]

Yes, the first picture is the new sidewalk, but it's the south side of the 183 feeder, so the photo is looking with the flow of traffic southeast towards the intersection with the end of Shoal Creek.  

The second pic is of actual Narnia. I've been really pleased with the speedy progress on this section. 

I use the Northern Walnut Creek Multi-use Path to get to the Milwood library.  The right of way for the final two sections on the north end have been cleared and unfinished for many months. 

Edited October 18, 2018 by June Bug

[TAF]

Ever-curious, I did some research. The project is called the MoPac Express Lane Shared Use Path, and is managed not by the City, but by the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority. 

Some detail is provided:

• The project includes a three-mile,10-foot-wide shared use path, separated from the roadway
• Two miles of the shared use path run on the west side of the roadway from the Walnut Creek Trail to the north end of Loop 360
• One mile crosses through the US 183 interchange and links Shoal Creek Boulevard to Neils Thompson Drive
• The project also includes four miles of new sidewalk, curb ramps and pedestrian signal heads along the frontage roads between Parmer Lane and Anderson Lane
• The project improves east/west connections at 13 MoPac cross streets, including ADA improvements, sidewalk extensions and added bike lanes

I called for a status update, rain notwithstanding, and a very friendly gal said she'd get in touch with the construction team and call me back. She was very excited to hear from an actual trail user, and even more excited to learn that an entire trail user base exists, and that we are all looking forward to the completion of the project. She didn't think the section across the other side of Mopac is theirs, but will check that also.

[circuitbreaker]

when she calls you back, please ask if they can finish the Balcones Park extension sometime this decade?

[TAF]

1 hour ago, circuitbreaker said:

when she calls you back, please ask if they can finish the Balcones Park extension sometime this decade?

Is it the same people?

[AntonioGG]

4 hours ago, circuitbreaker said:

when she calls you back, please ask if they can finish the Balcones Park extension sometime this decade?

I remember other stalled projects like this...at some point people just take back their trail and go around or even cut the fences. (totally not supporting that, for the record)  I've been surprised that the barriers still seem intact.  Thankfully we have an easy alternate route using the old paved trail entering from Duval, or even from under Duval on the other side.

[June Bug]

The area most in need of sidewalk?  On Lamar between Braker and Parmer and that little section of W. Yager Lane from Lamar over to I 35.  There is good infrastructure (big sidewalks and the potential to survive crossing the street) from I 35 east, but that little stretch of Yager is still a little country road barely two lanes wide.  And Lamar by WC is hopeless.  Were that fixed, I could ride my bike over to Gold's Gym without much problem. 

ETA: And people from the east side of I 35 could ride their bikes to WC! 

Edited October 19, 2018 by June Bug

[Bamwa]

11 hours ago, FJsnoozer said:

I rode it today downtown - walnut (to see if it was dry)

North on shoal creek
Left on Steck into Bike lane
Right on sidewalk which goes all the way to underpass after Braker
Enter driveway Hyde park Quarries Driveway
Hit singletrack at beginning over RR track and through other fence.
Continue all the way on bike path across Duval to the Walnut Creek Bike path drop in.

This has been the best and most uninterrupted route I have ever done to walnut.
The singletrack cut through is at the start of that fence in this picture:




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Hey, that's my sign! A true Matt Da Welda original! Of course I fabbed it between shredding trails and sending something.

[Bamwa]

8 hours ago, TAF said:

Fair enough. The thread is about the status of Gnarnia, so you had me confused. I guess it's now about FJ's northbound routes :-)

Ya know what fuck that., I'm confused too. I petition we change that name to somewhere that actually has gnar. How about Pickle Connector or something else. #totally not gnar at fucking all

[AustinBike]

I think pickle connector is a sex move. Afraid to google it.

[Bamwa]

Hilarious! I loled myself

[mack_turtle]

15 hours ago, June Bug said:

The area most in need of sidewalk?  On Lamar between Braker and Parmer and that little section of W. Yager Lane from Lamar over to I 35.  There is good infrastructure (big sidewalks and the potential to survive crossing the street) from I 35 east, but that little stretch of Yager is still a little country road barely two lanes wide.  And Lamar by WC is hopeless.  Were that fixed, I could ride my bike over to Gold's Gym without much problem. 

ETA: And people from the east side of I 35 could ride their bikes to WC! 

yeah, if I were to ride my bike to work (20 miles each way), that would be the most terrifying part of my route. the amount of time it would take me to do that is the main thing holding me back, but the mysterious lack of bike infrastructure makes me have second thoughts about doing it at all.

 

[June Bug]

Here's the naughty/not naughty,  vaguely naughty, possibly slightly suggestive Pickle connector route: from the north end of Narnia, take Neils Thompson north, proceed through the south "Pickle gate (!),"  along to Read Granberry Trail, and turn left ON EXPLORATION WAY(!) to the Braker/Domain intersection.   

Note: the south Pickle gate closes in the evening and on weekends, or when the research campus goes into lock down because of Code Red high alert terrorist danger situation.  If the gate is manned, which it usually isn't, a UT ID should get you through.  In this case, backtrack a half block, go east on Innovation Blvd to Burnet and ride along the verge on the west side of Burnet, all the way up to Braker. 

"Pickle connector" does not show up on Urban Dictionary, but there are other pickle-related terms.  Chelsea Tractor is trending: "Any expensive 4 x 4 that is driven in an urban environment as a status symbol, typically for a school run, and will never be driven off road.  'Look, that Chelsea Tractor nearly flattened a kid!'"  Taint is also trending, which seems adorably quaint, like it was rediscovered in 2017 and made edgy by frat boys. 

Side rant: When the Domain was first being hyped, it was touted as being the epitome of New Urbanism: high density/live-work/commercial/ped and bike friendly.  It is currently a chronic traffic jam and a disaster for cyclists as a through fare.  It is not ped or bike friendly because of high traffic load on very narrow streets.  And little sharrow symbols on the pavement? I interpret those as pavement icons indicating "cyclists are screwed" because who in their right mind really believes that cars like to share? 

The only part of New Urbanism at the Domain that is true is high density.  The Domain was planned and approved by the city with zero parkland.  Zero.  ZERO.  This pisses me off because of the pressure it puts on WC.  Then our city gave away a prime piece of real estate next door for a soccer stadium that could have been an amazing urban park with a dog park, in an area that is increasing in population density via numerous apartment developments already built out or going up in the immediate area, that are considered desirable because of proximity to the Domain.  And yes, high income apartment dwellers would pay for a season or annual pass to access a really nice dog park with a water feature(s). 

And *steam comes out ears* the city is trying to get a bond approved to BUY MORE PARKLAND. 

I need to get out more. 

  *checks radar*:   

Time for a walk! 

Edited October 20, 2018 by June Bug

[TAF]

16 hours ago, Bamwa said:

Ya know what fuck that., I'm confused too. I petition we change that name to somewhere that actually has gnar. How about Pickle Connector or something else. #totally not gnar at fucking all

It was definitely gnar if you rode through it on a rainy day with street tires. For many of us, though, it's the beer connector, not the pickle connector. Keep yer pickle to yerself!

[June Bug]

I'm assuming Narnia is the correct name.  It's from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis.  Four kids hide in a wardrobe and are magically transported to the land of Narnia.  Riding under 183 and suddenly being on a bit of single track, surrounded by wildflowers with ducks on a nearby pond always has (had) a bit of being transported to Narnia vibe.  

Caveat: I have never seen a very large noble lion, other talking animals or a White Witch on this section of trail, but that door could open if one has the correct frame of mind. 

Edited October 20, 2018 by June Bug