“It keeps the character of the town, what it was originally built for, and it allows the people who are coming to visit to see the city as it was,” said Reid. At Thursday’s public hearing, two environmental groups also defended saving the bridge and making needed repairs. “This is a historic bridge, a designated contributing feature to the Zilker Park National Register Historic District, and staff is asking you to vote to destroy it and replace it with a big ugly new highway bridge,” said Bill Bunch, Executive Director of Save Our Springs Alliance. “The disruption to traffic is going to be enormous. I am concerned about the disruption to the environment, also,” said Roy Waley with the Austin Sierra Club. Preliminary estimates show replacing the bridge will cost $36 million dollars. Backers of repairing the bridge want to know that price tag before any decision is made.

They talk about disruption to traffic but aren’t they also talking about restricting traffic completely on that part of Barton Springs?