Parallel parking will soon be allowed on part of Burleson Road for the first time in decades, part of a mobility project that also includes safer bike lanes. (Drawings from City of Austin Bicycle Program)

Burleson Road is getting a facelift this week, starting with a resurfacing project that began on Monday.

The City of Austin Public Works Department began laying down a new topping of tar and gravel on the portions of Burleson closest to Oltorf Street and Ben White Boulevard. Once the entire surface is complete, it will be swept to remove loose material.

About two weeks later, the street will be restriped from Oltorf to Ben White to improve the safety of bike lanes and enable parallel parking for a four-block residential section of the road.

Buffered bike lanes include a striped section between drivers and cyclists for added safety. Click to enlarge.

Most of the 1.1-mile section of road will be restriped with “buffered bike lanes,” 8-foot-wide lanes that have a 2-foot-wide striped buffer between car and bicycle traffic. The configuration will narrow the extremely wide vehicle lanes on Burleson down to standard widths for safer speeds, and will also help drivers comply with the city’s Vulnerable Road Users – Safe Passing law. The 2009 law requires a safe passing distance between vehicles and vulnerable road users such as bicycle riders, runners, people with disabilities, maintenance workers or stranded motorists. Safe is defined as 3 feet for cars and light trucks, 6 feet for trucks and commercial vehicles.

In addition to wider bike lanes, a four-block section of Burleson Road will also have a lane for parallel parking on the west side. Click to enlarge.

Restriping will also create a lane for parallel parking on the west side of Burleson between Douglas Street and Santa Monica Drive. In that section of the road, where there will not be space for the 2-foot-wide striped buffer, the project will create two 11-foot-wide vehicle lanes, one 8-foot-wide parking lane, and two bike lanes of 6 to 8 feet wide.

Parking will still be illegal on the east side of Burleson inside the four-block parking zone, and on either side of the street outside of the four-block zone.

To learn more about the restriping project, contact Neil Kopper, an engineering associate with the city’s Neighborhood Connectivity Division, at Neil.Kopper@AustinTexas.gov or (512) 974-7166.

Bike route to Formula One

Burleson Road is a designated bike route on the City of Austin’s bike map, and will once again be part of the official bicycle route to the F1 races Nov. 15-17 when the U.S. Grand Prix returns to the Circuit of the Americas. See photos of some of the estimated 1,100 cyclists who passed through last year.

If you are interested in volunteering during F1 this year to help create a safer crossing at Burleson Road and make the neighborhood pocket park a more pleasant stopping point for Austin visitors, please use the Hurly-Burly Contact page.