For years, business owners avoided building in some parts of downtown — the chance the area would flood made the decision too economically risky. If the City of Austin’s Waller Creek Tunnel Project is successful, 28 acres of downtown will be reclaimed to allow for area redevelopment.

Waller Creek begins north of the University and runs south through downtown and into Lady Bird Lake. The project’s goal is to redirect water flow away from a 100-year floodplain, a low-lying area near a river which is subject to flooding. 

According to Carolyn Perez, Austin Public Works Department communications manager, the project will allow for economic redevelopment of the area.

“It will provide flood protection and make it possible to revitalize parts of downtown that have been stagnant for years,” Perez said.

Perez said area residents have tried to add improvements such as park benches to the creek area, but their efforts were unsuccessful.

“There is an ever-present fear of floodwater,” Perez said. “If you go down to that part of the creek, you can actually see places where people have tried to make improvements, but they were washed away with the next flood.”

Phillip Fry is co-editor of “Austin’s Waller Creek,” a book about the history and vision of Waller Creek that will be published later this year. Fry said he is concerned that real estate in the area will become so expensive that only high-rises or multiple-use buildings will be able to afford building there.

“I think there will be positive things, but I’m starting to think that there will be many changes that some of the old-timers will regret — like the [elimination of the] music scene from 9th Street down to the river,” Fry said. “Commercial development will really have an impact there unless they preserve [the area].”

Perez said the process of lining the 5,600-foot tunnel with concrete is about 40 percent completed and said the tunnel will be fully operational by the end of 2014. According to Perez, the overall project costs $146.5 million — including land acquisition, engineering and project management — and is funded through the Waller Creek Tax Increment Financing Zone. The flood control tunnel construction, a major component of the project, will cost $106 million.

The Waller Creek Conservancy is implementing a design that will rehabilitate the creek ecology and revitalize area parks. Stephanie McDonald, Waller Creek Conservancy executive director, said the Conservancy will focus on areas between 15th Street and Lady Bird Lake, including the floodplain that the tunnel project is reclaiming. 

“Within walking distance of UT, you’ll have a repurposed Waterloo Park and Symphony Square,” Fry said. “It will be accessible by bike-and-hike and even possibly by rail.”