The current AWU plans call for heavy construction work at the Work Shaft sites and non-stop heavy truck traffic hauling out rock debris and bringing in construction supplies. This will take place for 12 hours each day, 7 days a week, every week, for 2 to 3 years.That is a very long time for a single location to absorb that amount of disruption.
In any other context, a construction effort of this magnitude, excavating a 7-mile long 13-foot diameter rock tunnel, with the bulk of the work concentrated in a single area, would be called an Industrial Mining Operation.
Except that our single area happens to be residential neighborhoods, blue-ribbon schools, a managed-care facility, and Upper Bull Creek itself with its headwaters, trails, and parkland.
This project will have a very severe impact on all who live around the Spicewood Springs area. There will be a lot of noise, traffic, pollution. There will be construction mistakes and mishaps.
As of June 2010, home sales have already been affected by news of this project. Property values will likely get severely depressed for a long time. The learning environment for children at Canyon Vista Middle School is highly likely to be adversely affected. People who use home-offices may find their work environment disrupted. Using our backyards, streets, and beautiful Bull Creek area trails off Old Spicewood Springs road will become a whole lot less enjoyable.
Our Goal
Stop the Shafts.
We want AWU and the City of Austin to develop alternate routes and construction plans for the tunnel that do not have this drastic impact on schools and residential areas. We know that such alternatives exist, with less impact on everyone (not just on us), including on homes and schools. It simply requires appropriate engineering resources to develop.
Our Approach
Our approach is simple.
- Build up our resources --- every one of you can help, we are all residents & volunteers
- Raise awareness of the problem among all residents who might be affected by it
- Raise our concerns to decision-makers and their influencers at the City and Austin Water Utility
- Make the true financial and social costs of the current plans evident to all
- Make clear the alternatives that AWU could pursue that are far less disruptive
- Utilize every legal avenue at our disposal to get the plans changed
