They are making good and pretty quick progress on new sidewalk in front of Hanover. Which makes me very happy since I traverse this section frequently.
One of the biggest problems I see with S Lamar, and the huge growth in the area, is the poor conditions/layout of the sidewalks on the road. One of my biggest peeves is this:
(It looks like this specific location, in front of Hanover, will be remedied by a new section of sidewalk that will be closer to the building that takes the route around this utility pole.)
But that pole is not the only one on S Lamar that is right in the middle of the sidewalk. And it is certainly not the only one around Austin. I can think of Red River St around Hancock and I think on Guadalupe north of the drag.
I see quite a few mobility impaired (wheelchairs) people on S Lamar that seem to struggle with the tight clearances around the utility poles and the overall poor quality of sidewalks. On several occasions I have seen these people forced to go onto the road to get past some sections.
The other issue is the lack of bicycle lanes along most of S Lamar. I wish the city would have put requirements on all the new developments to move the curb back a little bit and put bicycle lanes in front of the new projects. This would at least create areas for cars to pass bicycles in the present and then in the future the city could connect these areas when the next major roadwork occurs. I see this as a safety issue, as well as a traffic flow issue. There is great potential for biking along this corridor, which would help alleviate the traffic, but right now I think a lot of people are too scared to ride this section.