The Waterloo Greenway in Austin is a 1.5-mile string of parks, paths, and native gardens that follows Waller Creek through downtown, and the video above walks its newest section from 4th Street down to Lady Bird Lake. The full greenway covers about 13 acres of green space and is still unfinished, but the lower stretch opened in June 2026 and is now one of the easiest ways to get from the middle of downtown to the water on foot.
What is the Waterloo Greenway in Austin?
The Waterloo Greenway is a park project built to make Waller Creek a public landscape that people spend time in, after decades of it being something most people crossed without noticing. A lot of the work went into repairing eroded creek banks and managing stormwater. The first phase, Waterloo Park and the Moody Amphitheater, opened in 2021 at the north end. From there the plan is a continuous path south through downtown to Lady Bird Lake. A few middle sections are still being built, so you can't walk the whole route end to end yet.
Walking the Confluence from 4th Street to Lady Bird Lake
The new section is called the Confluence. It starts at 4th Street near Palm Park and heads south with a wide path along the creek and several pedestrian bridges crossing it. On a Sunday it's a mix of tourists wandering and locals out jogging. The skyline sits over the whole walk, including the Waterline, completed in August 2026. At 1,025 feet and 74 stories, it's now the tallest building in Texas, with a 251-room hotel, office space, 352 apartments, and restaurants and shops on the ground floor.
At the south end, the Confluence connects to the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail, the 10-mile loop around Lady Bird Lake. Trees block much of the lake view from the trail, though a few spots along here let you walk right up to the water. A short walk away is the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, which reopened in 2026 after a major expansion and hosts exhibits, events, and programs on Mexican American arts and heritage. The trail also links up with Rainey Street, where old bungalow homes have become bars sitting among high-rises, with food trucks and restaurants along the block.
Where can you hear live music near the Waterloo Greenway?
- Moody Amphitheater — the outdoor concert stage in Waterloo Park at the greenway's north end, used for ticketed shows and free community events
- Redbird Listening Room — a small songwriter venue in New Braunfels with seated, ticketed shows where the audience comes to listen
The second half of the video heads down to New Braunfels, where David Bridwell opened for Rob Dark Smith at the Redbird Listening Room. It's an intimate room built around songwriters, and plenty of familiar faces were in the crowd that night before the drive back up to Austin.