Janet Fish wanted a trail along the creek. According to the Shoal Creek audio tour, she got tired of waiting for City support and hired a crew to start clearing it herself, paying with $5,000 her husband had given her for a new car. Her "hike and bike trail" went on to become a model for others. Fifty-some years later, the stretch of her trail closest to Bryker Woods is a strip of new concrete and terracotta along North Lamar Boulevard. For the next several weeks, the Lamar sidewalk is also the official way around the creekside path.

That's the condition of the trail on this edge of Bryker Woods in October 2026. The City's official trail page describes the Shoal Creek Trail as four miles from Lady Bird Lake to 38th Street. City staff are still working to close its last major gaps between West 24th and West 34th streets, and that span runs right past the neighborhood. The new paths, both detours and the planned fixes are all on or beside Lamar.

The new part: 29th to 31st on Lamar

The City splits the unfinished mile into three pieces: a South Gap from West 24th to 2800 Shoal Creek Boulevard, a Middle Gap from West 29th to West 31st, and a North Gap from West 31st to West 34th. The Middle Gap is done. Construction started in November 2025 and was expected to take about a year. It wrapped up in July 2026, three months early.

The finished segment changes a few everyday routines along the boulevard, according to the City's July 2026 project update:

• 31st to 30½ Street, west side of Lamar: The old sidewalk is now a 12-foot shared-use path.
• 30½ to 29th Street, west side: A separate 10-foot terracotta bike path runs next to the walking path, so riders and walkers have their own lanes on this block.
• 31st and Lamar: A new crosswalk on the north side of the intersection leads to the bus stop, which moved to 3100 N. Lamar Blvd. The signal buttons are easier to reach too.
• Driving south on Lamar: The rebuilt median closes the left turn onto San Gabriel Street. Southbound drivers now turn left onto West 29th Street.
• East side of Lamar: Sidewalks and crossings from 31st down to the San Gabriel/29th intersection were upgraded.

Some earlier summaries describe a 12-foot trail from 29th to 31st, but that's not quite how it was built. The wide shared path covers only the northern block. South of 30½, walkers and riders split onto two paths, and the terracotta color is how you tell them apart.

The City and the Shoal Creek Conservancy celebrated the finished segment on August 22, along with the neighborhood bikeway work tied to it. The event notice describes those bikeways as slower, safer streets with asphalt speed cushions and humps, new signs and wayfinding markings. Phase 1 was finished by summer 2026. In the Heritage area, it covered West Avenue, West 31st, West 30th and Rio Grande. In North University, it covered West 34th, West 33rd, Hemphill Park, West Drive and East Drive. If you've noticed new speed cushions on your bike route east of Lamar, this project is why.

The closed part: Gaston to Janet Fish Bridge

The new Lamar paths matter more than usual this fall because the creekside stretch south of 29th is closed. Austin Parks and Recreation closed the trail between Shoal Creek Boulevard and the Janet Fish Bridge on April 27, 2026, to resurface it and make it accessible. The Conservancy says this stretch north of Pease Park has been in poor shape for years, with rough pavement and manhole covers that are hard to get around. It was the missing piece in an all-ages-and-abilities trail network.

The City first estimated the work would finish in late June. As of the Conservancy's October 1 update, the estimate is November 2026, pushed back by permitting delays and crew availability. The City's park-closures page also lists the segment as closed through November. Treat November as a target. It isn't a promise yet.

The detour is the sidewalk on the west side of North Lamar between Shoal Creek Boulevard and 29th Street. At the north end of the detour, you pick up the new 29th-to-31st segment. So if you walk south from Bryker Woods toward Pease Park right now, you can stay on Lamar from 31st nearly to Gaston, with the creek just out of view.

The long-closed part: 26th to 27th Street

Even after the resurfacing is done, the trail won't run along the creek all the way south. Landslides in May 2018 and May 2019 dumped debris that still blocks the creek and the trail from about 26th to 27th Street. That detour uses the paved sidewalk on the east side of the creek along North Lamar.

This spot is in the City's South Gap. Public review happened in 2024, and the Conservancy says it's now in design. The City lists construction funding as identified, but neither the City nor the Conservancy has published a start or finish date. So once November's repairs wrap up, the route to Pease Park will still involve a stretch of Lamar sidewalk for some time.

The unfinished part: 31st to 34th

North of the new segment, the gap is less obvious but still unfixed. In its October 2025 update, which is the most recent North Gap news the City has published, the City said it had removed an in-street pilot trail and added traffic calming and shared-lane markings. It also brought back the old in-street walking lane on the south curb, now with a low physical barrier. Funding for a wider sidewalk hasn't been identified. On the west side along Shoal Creek Boulevard, the preferred park-trail option has money for a preliminary engineering study, but none yet for construction.

Farther north, the City started building the FM 2222 underpass at Shoal Creek Boulevard in August 2026. Expect occasional trail detours and lane closures there through summer 2027.

Where the creek is still close: Seiders Springs

For an easy walk along the creek from Bryker Woods this fall, go north. Seiders Springs Park, at 1380 W. 34th St., is the closest spot. The springs are north of 34th. South of the street, there's a gazebo and an outdoor classroom shaded by live oaks.

The site has a long history. The Conservancy's account says Gideon White's family had a cabin by the spring, and his daughter Louisa married Edward Seiders. The springs and the oak grove nearby took the Seiders name. By the 1870s, the spot had bathhouses, picnic tables and a dance pavilion. So people have been coming to this bend of the creek for leisure for more than 150 years.

Getting to Pease Park this month

Pease Park Conservancy has a full October, and right now every walking route from Bryker Woods to the park involves Lamar. Here's what's on the calendar:

1. October 10, 10 to 11 a.m.: "Lives Remembered: Black History in Pease Park" at Kingsbury Commons.
2. October 16, 7:30 to 9:30 a.m.: Birding with Travis Audubon at Live Oak Meadow, 2208 Parkway.
3. October 18, 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.: Sunday Social, an all-levels yoga session on the Great Lawn with coffee afterward.
4. October 23, 8 to 9:30 p.m.: A free public mothing night for citizen science at Kingsbury Commons.
5. October 24, 9 to 11 a.m.: The Pollinator Play Date at Kingsbury Commons, part of Austin's Roots & Wings Festival.

The park's calendar doesn't show when it was last updated, so check it before you go.

You'll see some art along the way. Near 29th and Lamar, in the Lamar Terrace section of the park, stands David Deming's Mystic Raven, hosted in partnership with The Contemporary Austin's Museum Without Walls program. Deming made it in 1983, and it was the first monumental sculpture placed in downtown Austin. At Kingsbury Commons, the Tree House by Mell Lawrence and Clare van Montfrans puts you up in the tree canopy. Nearby, Aly Winningham's "Peace in Pease" mosaic covers three limestone slabs in the shady grove just north of the Tudor Cottage tumble hill. If you're bringing kids, the Pease Park Splash Pad has run on a shorter 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. schedule since August 3, until further notice.

Back on the north side of the neighborhood, there may soon be a coffee stop near the trail. Interpretive Coffee's website says its shop at 1608 W. 35th St. is "Launching Soon - Fall 2026." A June report from Community Impact had expected a September opening, so watch for the actual opening day.

Living near a trail that's under repair can make it hard to judge its value. A closed segment, a new terracotta lane and a funded-but-unscheduled gap can all affect how a block lives day to day. If you own a home near Shoal Creek and want to talk through how these projects fit into a future sale, Erin Scialabba is glad to go over the trail map with you, segment by segment.