South First: Barton Springs–Oltorf public-data baseline

As of: July 27, 2026
Study corridor: South First Street, including the Barton Springs Road and Oltorf Street intersections, Austin, Texas
Purpose: A reproducible public-data baseline for deciding what the Alliance can say now and what still requires records requests or field work. This is not a design recommendation.

Executive summary

1. The current evidence supports a safety and accessibility problem statement. In the five complete years 2021–2025, the corridor screen found 176 crashes, including 92 injury crashes, seven suspected-serious-injury crashes, eight people with suspected serious injuries, and no reported fatalities. Nineteen crashes involved a pedestrian, bicyclist, or motorcyclist. Four of the seven serious-injury crashes involved a person walking or bicycling. The source is Austin Transportation and Public Works' CRIS-derived Crash-Level Records dataset.
2. Crashes are strongly associated with intersections and turning. Of the 176 crashes, 113 (64%) use an intersection-style address and 102 (58%) have a turning movement in the collision description; 82 (47%) name a left turn. Barton Springs and Oltorf each account for 28 crash records in 2021–2025. Monroe has fewer crashes, but two of its 12 were serious-injury crashes.
3. The reported “22,000 daily trips” claim is not supported by the public evidence found. The City's official 2024 South First Street District Strategy states that South First carries 11,000–15,000 AADT depending on segment. A separate, historical City camera series at Oltorf/South First produced a median of about 13,400 northbound-plus-southbound approach movements per weekday UTC date bin in June–August 2022. Neither source establishes a current 2026 AADT, but both are materially below 22,000.
4. The corridor is posted at 35 mph, but no valid current operating-speed study is public. Thirteen of the 14 official centerline segments have POSTED_SPEED_LIMIT=35; one very short segment has no posted-speed value. The historical camera dataset warns that its speeds may be uncalibrated and were not validated, so this report does not present them as observed or 85th-percentile speeds. Source: City Street Centerline and Camera Traffic Counts.
5. Route 10 has a substantial physical presence but little public performance detail. The July 24, 2026 CapMetro GTFS feed identifies 13 Route 10 stops in the study corridor and 133 scheduled one-way Route 10 trips on Monday, July 27. Scheduled median headway at the Oltorf pair is 15 minutes. All 13 stop records use wheelchair_boarding=0, which means the feed does not specify accessibility; it does not mean the stops are inaccessible. Current stop-level boardings, alightings, dwell, delay, pass-ups, and on-time performance were not available in a public extract.
6. The City's sidewalk inventory shows meaningful deficiency but is not an ADA audit. The corridor selection contains 11,260 feet classified as existing sidewalk; 6,978 feet (62.0%) is labeled functionally deficient. Of existing sidewalk length, 6,188 feet (55.0%) has a recorded width of only three or four feet. These are screening findings from the City's Sidewalks dataset, not proof of ADA compliance or current clear width.
7. Public work is active, but the street-design decision window is not documented. Austin Water lists the reclaimed-water main along Monroe and South First in active construction from spring 2026 through fall 2028. The Annie Street flood project includes street repairs and sidewalks, but funding/phasing remains conditional. Transit Enhancement Project 17 recommends access-management, crossing, and bus-stop work from Ben White to Barton Springs, but no current allocation, design percentage, owner, or engagement schedule is public.

1. Corridor definition and method

1.1 Official centerline

The corridor is defined by 14 connected features in the City's daily-updated Street Centerline dataset, 8hf2-pdmb:

• North endpoint: South First at Barton Springs, [-97.750074926319, 30.258387664627]
• South endpoint: South First at Oltorf, [-97.759629913089, 30.242116494113]
• Centerline length: 1.2680 miles
• Included segment IDs: 2041275, 2019624, 2041307, 2019697, 2036094, 2033697, 2034207, 2023711, 2023739, 2023762, 2023767, 2023787, 2023809, 2023829

The South First bridge segment north of Barton Springs (2019330) is excluded. The segment from Oltorf to Herndon (2023882) and all segments farther south are also excluded. Crashes and other point records at either endpoint are included.

1.2 Crash geography

Crash records were first limited to a bounding box (latitude 30.2380–30.2590, longitude -97.7620–-97.7490) and then retained when the reported point was within 50 meters of the official centerline. The 50-meter screen accommodates intersection arms and ordinary crash-point imprecision; it is not a claim that every included crash occurred in a South First travel lane.

To preserve that distinction:

• South First primary: the normalized reported primary street is 1ST, S 1ST, SOUTH 1ST, or FIRST.
• Cross-street/nearby: the point is within 50 meters, but the reported primary street is something else, most commonly Barton Springs or Oltorf.

This produced 194 records from a 568-record bounding-box extract for January 1, 2021 through July 27, 2026.

2. Crash and injury history

Source: City of Austin Austin Crash Report Data – Crash Level Records, y2wy-tgr5, extracted July 27, 2026. The dataset is obtained from TxDOT CRIS, covers current full-purpose Austin, and warns that recent records can lag by several weeks. The latest crash anywhere in the published dataset was July 10, 2026; the latest selected corridor crash was July 4.

2.1 Annual totals

Serious-injury crash means death_cnt > 0 OR sus_serious_injry_cnt > 0. The crash count and person count differ because one 2023 crash recorded two suspected serious injuries.

2.2 Mode involvement

Mode involvement comes from the crash-level units_involved field; it is not a person-level exposure rate.

Four of the seven 2021–2025 serious-injury crashes involved a pedestrian: crashes at Oltorf, Barton Springs (two), and Monroe. The public crash-level field does not reliably distinguish a transit bus from other large passenger vehicles, so no transit-related crash count is claimed.

2.3 Locations and patterns

The location grouping below normalizes address_display values that name the same cross street. Counts include both South First-primary and cross-street-primary records.

Across all 176 five-year records:

• 113 (64.2%) use an intersection-style address containing &.
• 102 (58.0%) contain a turning movement in collsn_desc.
• 82 (46.6%) name a left turn.
• The single largest collision-description category is opposite direction, one straight/one left turn: 55 records.

These patterns support asking the City for turning, driveway, signal-phasing, and access-management analysis. They do not by themselves prove a particular geometric treatment.

2.4 Serious-injury records

3. Traffic volume, turning, speed, and operations

3.1 Best public volume evidence

The 46 weekday UTC-date bins in the camera extract ranged from 9,426 to 14,197 northbound-plus-southbound approach movements. Bins with the fullest record coverage had a median near 13,600. This is not a formally adjusted AADT, but it is directionally consistent with the City's 11,000–15,000 published range.

Assessment of the historical 22,000 claim: not verified. The two public City sources found are materially lower. This does not prove that no older count, different segment, seasonal peak, or model output ever reached 22,000; the original source must be produced before the number is reused.

3.2 Public turning evidence

At the Oltorf camera station, June 1–August 3, 2022 weekday records show the following movement shares:

The shares are useful only as historical screening evidence. Current 15-minute turning counts are needed at Barton Springs, Elizabeth, Monroe, Annie, Mary, Live Oak, and Oltorf.

3.3 Speed and roadway classification

• The official Street Centerline reports a 35 mph posted speed on 13 of 14 corridor segments; the 1529–1531 segment has no posted value.
• No current, validated observed-speed or 85th-percentile-speed extract was found.
• The Camera Traffic Counts speed field is not suitable: the City says measurements may not have been calibrated, are not validated, and include vehicles starting after a red light.
• No public official corridor travel-time, delay, queue, diversion, or congestion series was found.

3.4 High Injury Network and recent striping records

The City's daily long-line markings asset dataset, nxkm-x3yr, joined to the official corridor segment IDs, contains 13 corridor records:

• All 13 matched records have HIN=Y.
• One centerline segment has no corresponding long-line asset record.
• Most matched segments show last_work_date=2025-06-18; the Barton Springs-to-815 segment shows January 21, 2026; one short segment shows June 15, 2023.

The HIN flag is strong screening evidence that most of the segment is treated as part of the High Injury Network in this asset system. The markings work dates establish markings activity, not pavement resurfacing or a corridor redesign.

The nominal current-year pavement service-plan dataset has source rows last updated July 18, 2024 and returns no S 1ST ST record. It cannot verify a current resurfacing schedule.

4. Transit

Sources: CapMetro's official GTFS dataset, r4v4-vz24, feed version 260724_1108, and Route 10 page. Extracted July 27, 2026.

4.1 Route 10 stops in scope

There are 13 stop records. All are served by Route 10. The feed schedules 66 trips in one direction and 67 in the other on Monday, July 27. At the Oltorf pair, the first trips are approximately 5:15 a.m., the last approximately 11:50 p.m./12:14 a.m., and the median scheduled headway is 15 minutes.

4.2 Accessibility and performance boundary

• All 13 stops.txt records have wheelchair_boarding=0, meaning no accessibility information is specified in GTFS.
• GTFS does not publish stop-pad condition, clear boarding area, ramp path, shelter/seating, lighting, curb-ramp connection, or crossing accessibility.
• No current public stop-level boardings/alightings, load, dwell, pass-up, wheelchair-ramp deployment, delay, or reliability extract was found.
• CapMetro's Performance Dashboard FAQ describes ridership at system, service, and route levels. Stop-level operational records should be requested through CapMetro's Public Information Request Center.

5. Walking, crossings, accessibility, and 311

5.1 Sidewalk inventory

Source: City Sidewalks dataset, vchz-d9ng, exact street name S 1ST ST, retaining features whose geometry is within 30 meters of the selected 14-segment centerline. The hosted layer is refreshed, but its description traces the base inventory to 2006/2007. Individual selected features have later assessment and modification dates.

Existing-sidewalk condition:

The two PLANNED_SIDEWALK features are approximately 505 feet near Monroe and 807 feet near Elizabeth. Both are labeled PENDING ASSESSMENT with note ADA TF Request; neither record supplies a construction start or completion date. “Planned” is therefore not treated as a funded commitment.

The inventory cannot establish current ADA compliance. Width may not be clear width; driveway cross-slope, poles, vegetation, surfaces, curb ramps, detectable warnings, pushbuttons, and construction obstructions require a field audit. The City's 2026 Pedestrian Crossings ADA Transition Plan overview confirms that steep ramps, inaccessible pushbuttons, and poor crosswalk conditions are barriers the City is evaluating, but the public overview does not expose a corridor-level crossing inventory.

5.2 Signals and protected crossings

The daily Traffic Signals and Pedestrian Signals dataset, p53x-x73x reports seven active devices/locations in scope:

The dataset also retains a removed Monroe signal record alongside the active record; it is excluded from the count. Device presence does not establish ADA-compliant curb ramps, accessible pedestrian signals, crossing time, or good repair.

5.3 311 screening

Source: City Austin 311 Public Data, xwdj-i9he, January 1, 2021 through the dataset's July 23, 2026 update, using the same 50-meter centerline screen.

These are service requests, not unique defects or validated incidents. Department prefixes and request names changed over time; duplicates can represent multiple reports of one condition. The public dataset does not include the complaint narrative, ADA determination, engineering disposition, or asset-level resolution needed for a deficiency inventory.

5.4 Right-of-way

No current public block-by-block right-of-way width or acquisition constraint extract was found for this segment. The sidewalk inventory and centerline describe facilities, not legal right-of-way boundaries. Any assertion that a lane, sidewalk, bus-stop, or access-management treatment “fits” should wait for City survey/design records or parcel/ROW verification.

6. Current and funded work affecting the segment

No current public source reviewed identifies a funded corridor-wide lane reconfiguration, a confirmed resurfacing date, or an open formal design-engagement window. Public-page absence is not proof that internal work does not exist.

7. Data-quality caveats

1. Crash lag and precision: CRIS-derived records lag and points can be imprecise. The 50-meter buffer is a transparent screening choice, not an engineering crash diagram.
2. Endpoint effects: Barton Springs and Oltorf counts include crashes whose primary road is the cross street. The separate classification prevents those from being silently presented as South First-primary crashes.
3. No exposure denominator: Crash counts are not normalized by vehicle, pedestrian, bicycle, or transit exposure.
4. Collision descriptors: collsn_desc is useful for screening but is not a reconstruction of fault, contributing factors, driveway geometry, or signal phasing.
5. Traffic counts: The camera series ended in 2024 overall and at Oltorf in August 2022, is unvalidated, and may omit zero/missing bins. It is not current AADT.
6. Speeds: No public valid 85th-percentile study was found. Crash-reported speed limit and uncalibrated camera speed are not substitutes.
7. GTFS: Schedule data describes planned service, not delivered service. wheelchair_boarding=0 means unknown.
8. Sidewalk inventory: Feature conditions and widths are screening attributes, not a field-verified ADA evaluation. Facility lengths include separate driveway and planned-sidewalk classifications.
9. 311: Requests are not unique conditions; duplicates, recoding, closures, and missing narrative prevent issue-level conclusions.
10. Project status: Transit Enhancement costs/horizons are planning estimates from the 2024 report. No allocation or construction commitment is inferred.

8. Reproducible query notes

All extracts were made July 27, 2026.

8.1 Source and field register

8.2 Core Socrata filters

Crash bounding extract:

crash_timestamp_ct >= "2021-01-01T00:00:00"
AND crash_timestamp_ct < "2026-07-28T00:00:00"
AND latitude BETWEEN 30.2380 AND 30.2590
AND longitude BETWEEN -97.7620 AND -97.7490

Historical Oltorf movement extract:

intersection_name = "OLTORF ST / 1ST ST"
AND read_date >= "2022-06-01T00:00:00.000"
AND read_date < "2022-08-04T00:00:00.000"
AND direction IN ("NORTHBOUND", "SOUTHBOUND")

Sidewalk extract:

full_street_name = "S 1ST ST"

Signals extract:

UPPER(primary_st) LIKE "%1ST%" OR UPPER(cross_st) LIKE "%1ST%"

9. Unresolved official data requests

Use the City's public-information request portal and CapMetro's Public Information Request Center.

10. What is ready to use publicly

Ready now, with the stated dates and methods

• The 1.268-mile Barton Springs–Oltorf corridor definition and 35 mph posted-speed record.
• The 2021–2025 crash totals, serious-injury totals, mode breakdowns, intersection/turning pattern, and endpoint/cross-street distinction.
• The statement that the best official published AADT range found is 11,000–15,000, while the 22,000 claim remains unverified.
• The current Route 10 stop inventory and scheduled service description.
• The sidewalk-inventory screen, clearly labeled as GIS screening rather than an ADA determination.
• The seven active signal/PHB locations.
• The verified public status of the reclaimed-water, Annie Street, and Transit Enhancement work.

Not ready without an official response or field audit

• A current 2026 AADT, 85th-percentile speed, travel-time, diversion, or capacity claim.
• Any claim that a specific lane configuration will or will not work.
• Stop-level ridership, reliability, delay, or accessibility claims.
• A block, crossing, or curb ramp being ADA compliant/noncompliant.
• A statement that a proposed treatment fits within public right-of-way.
• A confirmed resurfacing/restriping, Project 17 design, funding, construction, or public-input date.

The strongest next evidence step is one coordinated City/CapMetro records request followed by a short, block-by-block field audit. The public data is already sufficient to say that the corridor has repeated injury crashes, a dominant turning pattern, substantial sidewalk deficiency in the City inventory, active transit service, and overlapping public work. It is not sufficient to select geometry or promise a delivery path.