Go with the Flow

$91.5M park project 'The Confluence' to open soon in downtown Austin

The Confluence stitches parts of downtown Austin together, helping pedestrians and bikers to avoid busy roads.

Photo by Roger Ho

Austinites will soon be able to fully engage with the results of a major 13-acre park project downtown. Waterloo Greenway Conservancy will celebrate the unveiling of The Confluence, the second phase in a series of projects within Waterloo Greenway, in a public grand opening on June 6. Guests will go on park tours and scavenger hunts, hear live music, and more.

These phases are much more than development lingo to break up the bigger project that will ultimately span a mile and a half. Each is a multi-year accomplishment of its own. The Confluence follows Waller Creek from 4th Street to Lady Bird Lake. It cost $91.5 million of public and private investments to make the design happen, including trails, new plants, and a variety of gathering spaces.

The Confluence Austin Like Waterloo Park, The Confluence is full of creatively placed paths.Photo by Roger Ho

The first phase of the Waterloo Greenway project constructed Waterloo Park and Moody Amphitheater, two spaces that now host regular events and have become an integral part of downtown Austin. It ended in 2021, and the second phase began in May, 2023. Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA) formed the design and Jay-Reese Contractors Inc. built it, both with a number of parters.

While the first phase was strongly public facing, especially thanks to the buzzy new concert venue, the second phase blends in a bit more, with a focus on ecology and nature-based activities like hiking. That's not to say it's invisible; the three highway-like bridges and 800-foot boardwalk bring an artistic sensibility to the park and encourage exploration.

The Confluence Austin These paths are functional, connecting important parts of downtown.Photo by Roger Ho

Here's what Phase II has achieved:

Corrects and stabilizes erosion along the banks of Waller Creek
Bypasses busy street crossings to connect important areas and destinations like the Rainey Street Historic District, the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, and the Austin Convention Center
Offers ADA-accessible trail connections
Adds or improves half a mile of bike and pedestrian trails
Supports "nearly 1,600 new trees, 200,000 native plants, and 10 acres of seed mixes," according to a press release, which ultimately improve air quality, reduce urban heat, and more
Treats 26.2 acres of urban stormwater in a biofiltration pond
Introduces several new family-friendly gathering spaces, including the Lakeview Terrace, Explorers Garden, and Leaf Deck

The Confluence Austin Some portions of The Confluence are less wide-open.Photo by Roger Ho

“Waterloo Greenway has always been about gathering the community, and with The Confluence, we are continuing to bring that vision to life as a welcoming and inclusive gathering place for all,” said conservancy CEO Dr. Colette Pierce Burnette in the release. “This is a transformational space for Austin, shaped by the voices of the community it belongs to and reflecting the diversity, creativity, and vibrancy of our city, where nature, culture, and community unite to create something truly extraordinary.”

Now that Phase II is complete, there's one more to go. Phase III will focus on the stretch from 4th Street to 12th Street, and the conservancy will also start work on Palm Park (200 N. I-35). When that's all done, there will be one "corridor" that ties together Waterloo Park and Lady Bird Lake, totaling 35 acres of green space.

The grand opening celebration on June 6 will be held at The Confluence from 10 am to 2 pm. More information about the planned activities, sponsors, parking, and more can be found at waterloogreenway.org. The event is open to everyone and does not require an RSVP.

parks downtown openings ecology nature sustainability hiking biking

River Restoration

New film shows how Texans are restoring the Guadalupe after July 4 flood

Hill Country Alliance Guadalupe River landowner workshop

Photo courtesy of the Hill Country Alliance

The Hill Country Alliance is one of the organizations featured in the film. Here, it hosts a workshop for landowners to learn how to plant new vegetation.

As Central Texas approaches the one-year mark after the destructive July 4 floods in 2025, the disaster has moved into a new phase of remembering and restructuring. A new documentary called Hope for the Guadalupe combines the two, collecting perspectives from the people who lived it and looking at the work Texans are doing now to revitalize the land.

The film will debut in a series of screenings that start in Austin at the sold-out 11th Annual Water, Texas Film Festival on May 12 and continue throughout Texas. After the community screenings, it will be picked up by Alamo Drafthouse for more showings from May 31 through June 2. These theater showings will be part of a double feature with another, more general conservation documentary called Deep In The Heart: A Texas Wildlife Story. Tickets are on sale now.

Other screenings with post-film Q&As will take place in the following cities:

Kerrville – Thursday, May 14 | Arcadia Live Theatre
San Antonio – Friday, May 15 | San Antonio Botanical Garden
Dallas – Tuesday, May 19 | Angelika Film Center & Café
Houston – Thursday, May 21 | River Oaks Theatre
Wimberley — Sunday, May 31 | 7A Ranch Opera House

The flooding is still primarily referred to by date only. It mostly affected the Guadalupe River, which runs through New Braunfels and separates Austin and San Antonio, but floods also caused significant damage north of Austin. During the worst of the flash flooding, the Guadalupe rose more than 37 in just hours, a press release about the film recounts. It shares an estimate that 52 percent of riparian vegetation — basically, the plants that create a buffer between land and river — was lost in Kerr County.

Director Ben Masters and producer Josh Winkler gathered their findings by talking to various community members and organizations about the ecology of the region and what they're doing about it now. According to the release, that means hearing from biologists, landowners, and conservationists doing things like planting native species and looking at the area's longterm needs.

The organizations looking after these longterm needs are now part of a coalition supported by the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country. Some of the individual organizations include the Hill Country Alliance, San Antonio Botanical Garden, Kerr County River Foundation, and the Hunt Preservation Society. The film will show some of their projects in progress.

“The goal was to tell this story with honesty and respect for the people and the place,” said Ben Masters, director of Hope for the Guadalupe. “What we saw was not just devastation, but a community coming together to restore something deeply meaningful. That’s what this film is about.”

The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country is one of several supporters of the film. The Community Foundation is also supporting fundraising efforts through its Hope for the Guadalupe Fund, which supports long-term river restoration, planting of native trees, seeds, and grasses, and stewardship efforts across the region. Many of those efforts are spotlighted in the film.

“The Guadalupe River is one of Texas’ great natural and cultural resources,” said Community Foundation of the Hill Country CEO Austin Dickson in the release. “This film documents both the devastating impact of the floods and the extraordinary work underway to restore the river corridor and surrounding communities. Long-term recovery means caring for the land, the watershed and the people who depend on them for generations to come.”

flooding flood relief ecology nature sustainability gardening native plants film documentary