The Shoal Creek Trail Past Pemberton Heights Now Runs Along Lamar

Start a walk at the Shoal Creek Boulevard parking lot and head south toward Pease Park, and the trail soon leaves the creek. The creekside section just south of the lot has been closed since May 4, 2018. That day a cliff above Shoal Creek gave way, destroying part of the greenbelt trail and breaking a wastewater line that ran beneath it. Today the route sends you up to North Lamar Boulevard, south along a 12-foot path, and back across the water at a limestone rock hop just north of 24th Street.

For more than eight years the city has called that a detour. Look at where the public money has gone since, though, and the detour has become the trail. Between 24th and 34th Streets, every finished project has been built along Lamar. The only creekside piece returning soon is the shaded stretch north of Pease Park, which is due back in November.

The bank that has no date

A KUT report notes that a second landslide in May 2019 added to the blockage. The repairs since then have all gone into what sits around the old trail. According to the city's slope failure project page, Austin Water finished wastewater repairs on the east side of the creek and along Lamar in July 2018 and rerouted the line. Watershed Protection stabilized the east bank to stop further land loss and protect two heritage trees, and it rerouted the storm drain system on Wooldridge Drive.

The same page says the slope "has begun to settle but is not in a condition that supports public access," and that the original trail will stay closed to the public for safety. On the city's parks closures list, the segment from 24th to 29th along North Lamar is marked "Closed Indefinitely." That entry was last updated June 11, 2026. It says Austin Parks and Recreation is working with Public Works and Transportation and Public Works to improve "the trail detour route east of the creek."

The sentence about the detour route east of the creek is the plan as the city has written it. It describes work on the Lamar side and sets no date for reopening the west bank.

Lamar, rebuilt in two pieces

The first piece went in across from the slide. Parks replaced the old five-foot sidewalk on Lamar with a 12-foot one, finishing in October 2024, between the Shoal Creek Boulevard and Lamar intersection and the rock hop. Shoal Creek Conservancy reports that the new urban trail segment opened in January 2025.

The second piece, the Middle Gap between West 29th and West 31st, was completed in July 2026, three months ahead of schedule. If you have driven Lamar since summer, you have already met some of it. The city's project page lists the changes:

• A 12-foot shared-use path on the west side of Lamar between 31st and 30½ Streets
• A separate 10-foot terracotta bike path between 30½ and 29th, so cyclists and pedestrians each have their own lane
• A new crosswalk on the north side of the 31st and Lamar intersection, which serves the relocated bus stop at 3100 N. Lamar, plus signals and push buttons that are easier to reach
• A rebuilt center median that closes the southbound left turn onto San Gabriel Street and allows southbound left turns onto West 29th instead
• Better sidewalks and crossings on the east side of Lamar from 31st down to the San Gabriel and 29th intersection

The city and the Conservancy marked the finished segment, along with the connected neighborhood bikeway work, on August 22. Add the two pieces together and Lamar now carries a wide, separated trail for most of the distance between the rock hop near 24th and West 31st.

Where each piece stands

The shaded stretch is the one coming back

The exception is the creekside segment from Gaston Avenue to the Janet Fish Bridge, just south of West 29th. The Conservancy says it was in substandard shape for years, with rough surfaces and manhole covers that were hard to get around. Repairs are meant to make it part of an All Ages and Abilities trail network. Parks closed it on April 27, 2026, sending trail users to the Lamar sidewalk. The city's closure entry, last updated September 9, lists the closure as running "until November 2026."

That date has already slipped once. The Conservancy's trail closures page, updated October 1, says permitting delays and crew availability pushed the work past the city's original late-June estimate. November is still listed as an estimate, with no specific reopening day. Before you plan a morning loop around it, check the city closures list.

The bridge at the north end of the segment is a neighborhood monument. Shoal Creek Conservancy's history of the bridge says it was built in 2006 in honor of Janet Fish, who grew up along Shoal Creek and later worked to extend and maintain its trails. She once hired a bulldozer to clear new sections herself. A memorial plaque marks the bridge. When the repaired trail opens, her bridge will connect the one stretch of creekside path near Pemberton Heights that has been brought up to an accessible standard.

North of 31st, the plan stopped at the drawing stage

The North Gap shows how far the money has gone. In fall 2023 the city collected more than 940 public comments on options for the three gaps. Along West 31st, no physical trail option drew clear support. The in-street pilot was removed and replaced with traffic calming and shared lane markings, and the old walking lane on the south curb came back with a low physical barrier. Along Shoal Creek Boulevard, the favored option upgrades the sidewalk through the park to a full trail. The city says that option will proceed by kicking off a preliminary engineering study, and it lists funding as identified for that engineering.

According to the city, three items still have no identified funding: a full signal at 31st and Lamar, which was the community's preferred fix for that intersection; the widened sidewalk between the trailhead and Lamar; and construction of the parkland trail from 31st to 34th. Two blocks south, the Middle Gap has gone from plan to finished trail, while the North Gap's parkland trail has money only for engineering. The landslide bank has been stabilized, and the city has made no commitment to reopen it as trail.

A November walk along the creek

Until the creek bank reopens, Lamar is part of the route. Here is one way to spend the month along it, from north to south.

1. Seiders Springs Park, Saturday, Nov. 7. Shoal Creek Conservancy's It's My Park Day runs 9 to 11 a.m. at 1380 W. 34th St. Volunteers will plant Texas natives, make seed balls and pick up litter and recyclables. Event details are on the Conservancy's site.
2. Local Foods at 38th and Lamar, any weekend. The restaurant's second Austin location opened Aug. 21 at 3800 N. Lamar Blvd., Ste. 170. Community Impact reported that it serves coffee, cocktails, lunch and dinner, with weekend brunch added in September.
3. Kingsbury Commons, Tuesday, Nov. 10. Pease Park Conservancy hosts "Lives Remembered: Black History in Pease Park" from 10 to 11 a.m.
4. Kingsbury Commons amphitheater, Saturday, Nov. 14. A free Small Wonders puppet show runs 10 to 11 a.m.
5. Live Oak Meadow, Friday, Nov. 20. A birding outing runs 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. All three Pease Park listings are on the Conservancy's events page, which is the place to confirm times and registration.

For a bagel on the way, the Statesman's August roundup listed Shug's Bagels as open at 1206 Parkway.

If the Gaston-to-Janet Fish segment has reopened by the time you head out, the walk south from 29th returns to the shade along the creek. If not, the Lamar sidewalk detour still applies.

At Cord Shiflet, we keep track of how the trails, parks and streets around Pemberton Heights are changing, because these are the routes our clients walk every day. If you'd like to talk about what the Shoal Creek changes mean for your corner of the neighborhood, reach out and Work with Cord.