Austin Parks Foundation, in partnership with the City of Austin and the Mueller Foundation, are proud to be leading the work to make the EastLink Trail a reality. EastLink is a 5.1 mile urban trail in Central East Austin that connects Bartholomew Park to Lady Bird Lake and all the civic assets in between.

Throughout the years, many pathway infrastructure projects have been completed by City partners to close the missing segments of the trail and current effort see to provide enhancements to the trail and parks above this base level of infrastructure.

The Pillars Project was derived from the community's desire to create a new art space at this site along the EastLink Trail. The Pillars Project demonstrates what is possible when the future of a place is co-created by the community it serves!

Given the positive community response, we've secured funding to commission nine additional artworks. We're looking for local artists and community story-tellers to co-create the designs of the next pillars!

Restore neglected trails and natural systems

Foster pride in the culture and history of East Austin

Bring the Eastside community members together

Encourage active transportation for all abilities

Increase safety for pedestrians and cyclists

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility

The EastLink engagement strategy consisted of both traditional and non-traditional methods, meetings, activations and events as we try to we reach community members with broad perspectives in the ways that work best for them.

As part of the more traditional methods, we met at three Project milestones over the course of 2019. Seeking input from our technical advisory group (TAG), and our community advisory group (PALS) we put together a full place making report. You can check out how we got there through our meeting notes and presentations below.