The current territory of Williamson and Travis, of which Austin is a part, has been inhabited since at least the 1990s BC. According to the excavations that were carried out between Georgetown and Fort Hood, the people lived here in the Pleistocene era and were part of the culture of Clovis.

A tip found in the Austin area belonging to the Klovis culture about 11,500 years ago.

Before the arrival of the Europeans, the territory was inhabited by the Tonkawa tribe, passing the way of the commandos and the Lipans.

In the early 19th century, two Spanish forts were built near the present Austin: Bastrop and San Marcos. In the 1830s, the village of Waterloo was founded on the site of Austin.

In 1835, the Texas independence war began, resulting in a new state with its own president, Congress, and monetary system. In 1839, a commission was formed in Congress to find a place for the new capital, named after the founder of Texas, Stephen Austin. The second president of Texas, Mirabo Lamar, recommended that attention be paid to Waterla and the surrounding area, noting the beauty of the hilly area. In the end, it was decided to establish the capital in this place and instead of the village of Waterlo the city of Austin appeared.

A number of won clashes with the team in 1840 allowed the city and the surrounding area to begin to develop rapidly, and Travis District was formed. But Lamara's political opponent, Texas's first and third president Sam Houston, referring to the Mexican army's attacks on San Antonio, which is very close to Austin, transferred the Texas Congress from the capital. The decision was also supported by many Houston residents who had to travel to Austin on public affairs. After the move of the Congress, about half of Austin's 856 residents left the city. In 1841, under the pretext of threats from the Indians and Mexicans, who still considered the territory of Austin their own, the capital was also moved. In 1845, Texas's fourth president, Anson Jones, and the Congress voted to return the government and the status of the capital to Austin. At the same time, it was decided that Texas would become part of the United States of America.

Since the middle of the 20th century Austin has been one of the largest metropolises of Texas, and at the end of the century Austin began to develop as a major center of high technology in semiconductors and software. Texas University has become one of the largest in the United States.

Since the 1970’s, Austin has also become one of the country's largest music scenes, thanks largely to famous artists like Willy Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughn, who was born in the area. Later, the status of the music industry center was reinforced by the Austin City Limits music program, the festival of the same name, and the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival.

Austin is located in central Texas, northeast of San Antonio. One interstate highway, I-35, passes through the city. The height ranges from 88 to 405 meters above sea level. According to 2018 data, the city occupied an area of approximately 828.54 km², of which about 18.65 km² is a water surface. Located on the Colorado River, the city has three artificial lakes: Lady Bird Lake, formerly called Town Lake, Lake Austin, and Lake Walter E. Long Lake Walter E. Long). There is also a part of Lake Travis within the city, including the Mansfield Dam dam. Lake Travis, Lady Bird and Austin are all on the Colorado River. As a result of the fact that within the city there is a fracture of the Balcones Fault, the territory varies greatly in different parts of the city. For example, in the east it is a flat area with heavy clay and sooglin, while the west of the city is on the outskirts of the area called Texas Hill Country and is covered with hills. These hills consist mainly of limestone covered with a small layer of soil above. Because of this structure, rainfall can periodically flood parts of the city. To prevent flooding, a dam system has been built on the Colorado River, managed by the Lower Colorado River Authority, a nonprofit. These dams form a number of lakes that are used for recreation and entertainment: Swimming, boat riding, fishing, and coastal areas are broken up by parks.

Austin lies on the border of four ecological zones, and is therefore an oasis with a highly volatile climate, whose characteristics contain signs of desert, tropics, and humid regions. These features also cause biodiversity, and have become home to many species of animals and plants. Flowers, among them the most famous here, the Texas Lups, blossom almost all year round, although the most active bloom period is in spring. Many flowers were planted by Lady Bird Johnson, President Lyndon Johnson's wife.

One of the most popular places in Austin is Mount Bonnell. A natural limestone formation up to 238 meters above sea level has an observation deck about 60 meters below the peak, which offers a beautiful view of Lake Austin and the houses on its banks.

Soils in the Austin area range from shallow clay layers above limestone in the west to heavy clay in the east. Some of the types of clay that occur are very intense when in contact with water, and thus make it difficult to build in the city. Most clay is rich in calcium carbonate.

Climate

Austin is dominated by a humid subtropical climate (Cfa, which is characterized by extremely hot long summers, dominated by humid winds from the Gulf of Mexico, and mild and short winters. On average, Austin receives 872 mm of rainfall per year, most of it in the spring. This time of year is quite frequent strong thunderstorms, but not tornado. As a rule, in Austin clear or low-cloud weather, the city gets almost 2,650 hours of sunlight per year, or 60.3% of the possible maximum.

In the summer Austin is usually hot and humid, with maximum temperatures during the day of July and August averaging around 35°C. The average temperature is 109 days a year above 32.2°C, and 12 days a year the temperature rises above 37.8°C. Record temperature of 44°C was recorded twice: 5 September 2000 and 28 August 2011.

Winter in Austin is mild and relatively dry. The minimum daily temperature falls below 7.2°C 88 days a year and 18 days a year the temperature drops below 0°C. The lowest temperature was recorded on January 31, 1949 and was -19 °C.

Heat and drought in 2011

Between October 2010 and August 2011, Austin received the lowest rainfall since the 1950s. This drought is the result of a weather phenomenon called La Niña in the Pacific. Scientists still doubt whether this is a direct consequence of climate change or not, but predict further deterioration, given the warming and dryness of the local climate. In 2011, the record for the number of days with a maximum temperature of 100°F (37.8°C) and higher was also significantly exceeded. As at 13 October 2011, the number of such days was 90. The previous record was set in 1925, when 69 days with three-digit temperature were recorded.

Texas Capitol in the evening light

Austin City Hall

Legislative activities and administration

The city's main governing body is the City Council, composed of eleven members, ten of whom are elected by district, and the eleventh is the Mayor of the city, elected by all voters in Austin. A city manager is hired to help the mayor. Elections of the mayor and other members of the city council are held on a non-partisan basis, according to the majoritarian system of an absolute majority. Until November 2014, Austin remained the only major city in Texas in which all city governors were elected by all the city's residents, not by district.

Mayor is Steven Adler. He was elected for the first term on 4 November 2014.

With the exception of administrative buildings, order in Austin is maintained by the Austin Police Department. The administrative buildings are guarded by the Texas Public Security Department. Fire protection is provided by the Fire Department of Austin, emergency medical care — Austin Ambulance and Travis County.

Policy

Austin is known as an oasis of liberalism in a conservative state, and sometimes residents of the rest of Texas even jokingly call it "Austin People's Republic." In the 1970’s, Austin became the stronghold of the Democratic Party, while the suburbs usually voted for the Republicans.

In Austin, representatives of the Libertarian Party are also active.

Two of the presidential candidates in 2004 resided in Austin: Michael Badnerick of the above-mentioned Libertarian Party, and David Cobb of the Green Party. Although the Presidential Debate Commission normally invites only Democratic and Republican candidates, in November, in the run-up to the elections, all candidates, including two representatives of small parties, were invited to the presidential debate at Texas University. Austin also hosted one of the last rounds of presidential debates between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in their 2008 Democratic nomination race.

Environmental Movement

The political movement in Austin was characterized by an environmental movement. Most of the movement has matured in discussions about preserving the quality of life and creating a "sense of place" in Austin. In 2012, the city was one of the first in Texas to ban shops from packing goods purchased by customers in thin plastic bags.

Whole Foods Market Headquarters

Austin is the largest integrated urban agglomeration of Greater Austin, with a gross domestic product of $86 billion in 2010. The city is considered to be one of the largest high-tech centers in the United States. Every year, thousands of graduates with engineering and computer specialists from the University of Texas are supplemented by companies dealing with technology and protection. Home prices in the metropolis are much lower than in Silicon Valley, but markedly higher than in other parts of Texas. Austin suffered from a dot-com bubble as a result of a large concentration of high-tech companies. The largest employers in Austin are the Texas State Government, Texas University Austin, Dell, Austin, Seton Healthcare Network, Independent School District Austin, HEB Grocery chain of shops, the U.S. Federal Government, the St. David's Healthcare Partnership IBM and Freescale. The city also houses the offices of many hightech companies: 3M, AMD, Apple Inc., Applied Materials, ARM, Buffalo Technology, Cirrus Logic, Cisco Systems, Bioware, Blizzard Entertainment, eBay/PayPal, Electronic Arts, Facebook, Flextronics, Google, Hew lett-Packard, HomeAway, Hoover’s, HostGator, Intel Corporation, National Instruments, Nvidia, Oracle, Qualcomm, Rackspace, RetailMeNot, Rooster Teeth, Samsung, SilLabs icon , Spansion, Troux Technologies, Xerox,United Devices, and Wargaming. The dominance of high-tech companies led to the region's name, Silicon Hills, and contributed to its development and growth.

Austin is also developing as a center of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. There are about 240 biological companies in the city, of which about 28% work in the areas of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. The Milken Institute think tank placed Austin 12th on the list of biotech and bioscience centers in the United States. Hospira, Pharmaceutical Product Development, ArthroCare are all located in the city.

A large international chain of Whole Foods Market stores specializing in organic, organic and local food has been established in Austin.

Other large Austin-based companies: Dimensional Fund Advisors, EZCorp, Forestar Group, Freescale Semiconductor, GSD&M, Goldsmith, Keller Williams Realty, National Western Life, Sweet Leaf Tea Company, and Temple-Inland.

Skyscraper 360 Condominiums Tower

Congress bridge tonight

The main buildings captured in many of Austin's photos are medium-sized and far apart. The second property is partly due to the restriction imposed by the authorities to preserve beautiful views of the building of the Texas Capitol from different parts of the city (the so-called Capital Review Corridor). This restriction, however, did not prevent the construction of new skyscrapers, the city center looks modern and quite densely built. The Austonian, the city's tallest building, reached its current height (208 meters) on September 17, 2009, and was commissioned in June 2010. Austin 360 Condominiums Tower (172 meters), Spring and several other skyscrapers are currently under construction in Austin.

At night, some areas of Austin are illuminated by "artificial lunar light" with the help of the 50-meter Moon Light Tower, which was built in the late 19th century and is now a historical monument. Austin is the only city where they have been preserved (15 out of 31 remain). The towers can be seen in the 1993 film "High and Shattered".

City Center

The city's business center is home to some of the state's tallest skyscrapers, such as the 56-story Ostonian or the 44-story 360 Condominium, which opened in 2008, as is the Four Seasons Con ). Former Mayor Will Winn set the goal of bringing the number of residents in the city center to 25,000 by 2015, and the city began to encourage the construction of residential buildings. This has significantly changed the appearance of the city center in recent years. In addition, the center's popularity has been boosted by the abundance of live music, evening entertainment, museums, restaurants, and Lady Bird Lake, considered one of the best places to relax in Austin. The second street area consists mainly of new accommodation, restaurants, caffeines, high-class boutiques, museums. The town hall is also located here. A studio for the Austin City Limits program was built in front of it. The South by Southwest festival is also located in the city center, during which over 3,000 performers perform during the 4th of March days.

According to the statistics as of 1.07.2018, Austin had a population of 964,254, which is 22% more than the last census.

According to the 2010 census, the city had 790,390 inhabitants, 324,892 households and 168,582 families.

Race composition of the city:

• 68.3% white,
• 8.1% black,
• 0.9% Native Americans,
• 6.3% - Asians,
• 0.1% - Hawaii or Oceania,
• 12.9% - other races
• 3.4% are two or more races.

The number of Hispanic speakers of any race was 35.1%.

Of the 324,892 households, 26 per cent are children under the age of 18. In 36.2% of cases, married couples live in the household, 11% are households without men, 48.1% are households that do not belong to the family. 34% of households are single people, 4.9% are single people over the age of 65. The average household size is 2.37 persons. The average family size is 3.16.

25.6% of the city's population is under 20 years of age, 39.9% are between 20 and 39 years of age, 27.5% are between 40 and 64 years of age, 7.1% are between 65 years of age and over. The average age is 31 years.

According to five-year surveys from 2009 to 2013, the average household income in Austin is $37,094 per year, and the average household income is $69,272. The city's per capita income is $31,990, lower than the national average of $39,997. About 13.5% of households and 19.1% of the population are below the poverty line. Of this, 26.7% are under 18 years of age and 8.8% are over 65 years of age.

The motto "Keep Austin Weird" has become a hit in recent years, and it can be found on virtually any souvenir in the city. The slogan is designed not only to highlight Austin's originality and diversity, but also to help local businesses. According to the book "An unusual city", published in 2010, the author of the phrase belongs to the librarian of the local college (Austin Community College), Red Vassenich, and his wife, Karen Pavelka, who were concerned about "the rapid immersion of the city into commercialism and too quick a yokoy." Although the motto has since been used in many different situations and meanings, it remains the main slogan for those concerned with the rapid growth and irresponsible development of the city. Austin's story is rich in protests by city dwellers against projects that have degraded the environment, destroyed cultural monuments, or destroyed the natural landscape.

According to the company Nielsen, Austin's adults are more active than their peers in other metropolises, reading and writing in blogs. Also, Austin's residents use the Internet more intensively than anywhere else in Texas. Mani Magazine (Money) twice included Austin in the list of the best big cities to live in: In 2006, it ranked second and third in 2009, and MSN recognized Austin as the greenest city. According to the magazine "Travel & Leisure", Austin is home to the best people as individuals and city dwellers.

One of the main shopping destinations is the SoCo district, located in the southern part of Congress Avenue. There are many souvenir and eccentric shops, restaurants and coffee shops, and there are a lot of parades. The area is particularly proud to "protect the oddities of Austin," especially in the context of the development of neighboring areas.

Annual events

O. Henry's House Museum holds an annual competition for the O. Hanry Pan Off, in which participants compete in wit. Other annual events include the birthday of donkey Jia, Spamaramu, Austin reggae festival, and the Austin Festival, an art city in April, a studios tour of eastern Austin in November, and Brazilian Carnival in February. The sixth street traditionally hosts the Pecan Street festivals and Halloween celebrations, since 2002 also annually at Zilker Park the three-day music festival Austin City Limits. Each year, during one of the weekends in late March - early April, relay flights take place in Austin.

In December, the Christmas tree, a set of garlands stretched in different directions from the top of the moon's tower, is traditionally lit in Zilker Park. As a rule, the tree is lit simultaneously with the alley of light, but in 2010 and 2011 in order to save the budget, the alley of light decided not to organize.

Music

Austin City Limits Festival, 2009

The presence of a large number of platforms for performances is a clear confirmation of the official slogan Austin — "World Capital of Music". The music centers are night clubs on the sixth street, as well as the annual festival of music film and art South by Southwest. In 2007, the festival was attended by Pete Townsend, Iggy Pop, Tom Morello and Ricky Lee Jones. The Moody Theatre also has the longest-running Austin City Limits, and the three-day festival is held every autumn in Zilker Park. A number of other festivals also take place in Austin: Chaos In Tejas, Urban Music Festival, Fun Fun Fun Fest, Chaos In Tejas, Fest Old Settlers Music Festival and Austin Psych Fest.

Austin Lyric Opera has been performing several performances every year since its opening in 1986. In 2007, the North American premiere of Philippe Glass's opera "Waiting for Barbarians" was held here, based on a book written by John Cutzey, a graduate of a local university. The performances take place in the Long Center, as well as an open-air theater in Zilker Park.

The Austin Symphony Orchestra, whose musical director and conductor is Peter Bay, performs a wide range of musical works from classics to popular and family music.

Movies

The city hosts the annual film festival, which is attended by many filmmakers from all over the world. In 2004, MovieMaker magazine named Austin the best city to live and make movies.

A number of well-known films were filmed in Austin, not least by the presence of the Faculty of Television, Radio and Film at the University of Texas. The list of films shot in Austin includes such films as "Cool and Chicks", "Covered Lions", "Awakening Life", "Children of Spies", "Under high and in disarray", "Office Space"," David Gale's Life, Miss Congeniality, The Ripper, Idiocracy, The Cool Guy, The Grapes of Hope, Fort Alamo, The Open Check, and Iron Cohen's brothers, Greindhouse, Machete, How are fried worms, and Bandslam. To attract new filming, the Austin Film Community turned several hangars of the former Muller Airport into a film studio called Austin Studios. The studio made clips of the band The Flaming Lips, as well as scenes for films "25th hour" and "City of Sins". Austin was also the filmmaker for the reality show MTV "The Real World", "The Real World: Austin." Austin is home to well-known movie websites: Spill.com and Ain't It Cool News.

Media

The main daily newspaper is Austin American-Statesman. The Austin Chronicle and the student newspaper The Daily Texan are also published daily. A business newspaper "Austin Business Journal" is published weekly. In addition to those already listed, a number of regional and district newspapers are being published. For example, in Austin is the office of Texas Monthly magazine. Relatively recently, the monthly newspaper Community Impact, which includes five regional issues and reports on news from each district, was published. The newspaper was founded by a former publisher of Austin Business Journal and is delivered free of charge to every house in the district. Among local radio stations, one can name KLRU, which has won several prizes for its employee-created programs, KUT, Texas's most popular radio station, KOOP (FM), a volunteer radio station, and KVRX, a Texas University student radio station. Network TV channels in Austin represent KTBC (Fox), KVUE (ABC), KXAN (NBC), KEYE-TV (CBS), KLRU (PBS), KNVA (The CW), KBVO (My Network TV) and KAKW (Univision). Local news channel News 8 Austin broadcasts around the clock.

Recently, The Texas Tribune, whose website focuses on the political news of Texas and Austin in particular, has played an important role in providing information. The organization exists at the expense of user donations.

Theaters

There are a number of theaters in Austin, including the Zacharias Scott Theater, Vortex Repertory, Salvage Vanguard Theater, Rude Mechanicals' the Off Center, Austin Playhouse, Scottish Rite Children’s Theater, Hythe de Park, the Blue Theater, the Hideout Theater and Esther’s Follies. Street performances are no less popular, in April Austin is hosting the annual Fuse Box Festival.

One of the first and most famous theaters is the Paramount Theater built in 1915. The theater not only holds performances, but also shows cinema, there were premieres of some films made in Austin (e.g. "Miss Congeniality" and "City of Sins"). The Zilker Park is the annual venue for the Zilker Park Summer Musical.

Another venue for the theater performances is the 2,300-person hall of the Long Center of the Performing Arts, built from the recycled materials of the auditor Lester E. Palmer.

Austin Ballet is the fourth largest ballet academy in the United States. Every year a group of twenty members of the ballet presents a large number of ballet compositions of various choreographers. Also in Austin is the Ballet East Dance Company and Tapestry Dance.

Austin's improvisation theater is performing on several scenes in the city, at ColdTowne, The Hideout, The New Movement, and Salvage Vanguard theaters. Austin is hosting the Out of Bounds comedy festival. In 2010, more than 400 artists from the United States and other countries performed on 7 stages.

Sports

Texas Longhorns home stadium - Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium

Professional teams Austin and suburbs

Club	Sports	Creation Year	League	Stadium
Round Rock Express	Baseball	1999	Pacific Coast League	Dell Diamond
Austin Outlaws	American football	2003	Women's Football Association	House Park
Austin Spurs	Basketball	2005	NBA Development League	H-E-B Center at Cedar Park
Texas Stars	Hockey	2009	American Hockey League	H-E-B Center at Cedar Park
Austin Aztex	Football	2011	United Football League	House Park
Austin Aces	Team tennis	2014	World TeamTennis	H-E-B Center at Cedar Park

Plan of the Formula 1 route in Austin

Austin is the largest city in the US, not represented in any of the top sports leagues. Most Austin residents support the Texas Longhorns teams. American football and baseball teams became national champions of the respective student leagues in 2005-2006. Texas Longhorns is the second largest football team in the state at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, which has more than 101,000 fans. Baseball games take place at the UFCU Disch-Falk Field stadium, which can accommodate 6,756 spectators after a 1996 upgrade.

In 1996, Austin Ice Bats, a professional team from the junior hockey league, was disbanded in 2008 due to a lack of attendance, as well as the appearance of the AHL Texas Stars team. In 2001, a team from Columbus from the NBA Development League moved to Austin. After the move, the team was named Austin Toros. In the 2011/12 season the club became the league champion, and in 2014 it was renamed to Austin Spurs. Austin also has a team that won the 2010 U-19 football championship, Lonestar Sokker.

The landscape, which combines cycling terrain, limestone rocks, and water bodies such as Barton Springs, has made Austin one of the centers of the competition in sports species, along with the mild climate which requires endurance or combines several disciplines. The 10,000-mile race, Capitol 10,000, is the largest in Texas and one of the top five in the country. The Austin Marathon has been held annually since 1992. Founded in Austin, the American Swimming Association holds the annual open water competition Cap 2K, as well as a number of other competitions both indoor and outdoor. In addition, Austin is home to a number of cycling teams, the city trains the seven-time winner of the Tour de France Lance Armstrong, as well as many amateur cyclists who prefer bicycles to cars for environmental or economic reasons. The combination of the three disciplines mentioned above is an active support for the development of the triathlon. Every year, on Memorial Day, a race is held around Lady Bird Lake, Auditorium Shores Park and Downtown.

On May 26, 2010, Bernie Ecklestown signed a ten-year contract with Full Throttle Productions, the United States Grand Prix of Formula 1 from 2012 to 2021. In November 2011, the construction of the highway was suspended due to disputes between the promoter of the Tavo Hellmund race, the new motorway management and the promoter of Formula 1 Bernie Ecclstown, but in December all issues were settled and the Grand. -in the U.S. was approved in the calendar for 2012. In 2012, an entirely new Circuit of the Americas race track was built in Austin from scratch to host the event. The route is about 7 kilometers southeast of Austin Bergstrom Airport, with its first race on November 18, 2012. Since 2013, the track has also hosted MotoGP races.

In 2011, Austin Aztex, the country's own football team, was established in Austin. In 2012 the team debuted in the Premier Developement League, having won the final of the conference, and in 2013 won the champion title of the league. In 2015, the team moved to the United Soccer League. In May 2015, torrential rains and a stream overflowing the banks severely damaged House Park, where the team played home matches. Therefore, the team gave up performances in 2016 and plans to continue performances in 2017, when the problems with the stadium will be solved.

In 2014 and 2015, the team from Austin Aces competed in the World TeamTennis League. The team moved from California, where it was named Orange County Breakers. The team was supported by both former professional athletes, such as Andy Roddik and Marion Bartoli, as well as acting professionals, including from Russia: Vera Zvonareva, Teimuraz Gabashvili and Alla Kudryavtseva. In 2015 the Ostynsk team reached the final of tournament. In 2016, the team moved back to Orange District.

Museums and other sights of the city

There are many museums in Austin, the most famous of which are the Texas Memorial Museum, the Blanton Art Museum, the Texas Bob Ballock History Museum, the Austin Art Museum, and the gallery at the Harry Ransom Center. One of the most popular tourist destinations is the Texas Capitol and the oldest Hotel Driskill, built in 1886 just before the Capitol construction. In Austin, there is a library and museum of US President Lyndon Baines Johnson, which contains the documents and artifacts of the Johnson administration, including the President's limo and a copy of the oval cabinet.

The music center of Austin is the Sixth Street. The Enchanted Forest area in southern Austin is also the center of street performances such as fire dances and circus shows.

Art objects created in the region can be found in the museum of popular culture in the south of Austin, Latin American culture is presented by the Mexic-Arte Museum, opened in 1983. Also in Austin is the House-Museum of O.Henry, where the writer lived in 1891.

Austin's "unusual" also manifests itself in sculptures set here, such as a fork near the Hyde Park grill bar, Mangia dinosaur, crazy Maria at Taco Xpress, "migrating" pink flamingos at the entrance to the botanical garden a giant bent hand outside Hyde Park gym, and a frog fresco from the cover of Daniel Johnston Hi, how are you.

Austin residents often start their hometown tours with a statue of a Texas Blues performer, guitarist Stevie Ray Von, on the southern shore of Lake City. The shadow of the statue is always longer than its height and is meant to symbolize the broad influence of Stevie Von on the guitarist generation.

Under Ann Richards Bridge, the largest bats colony in the city (the Brazilian Wiscuits) is nestled on Congress Avenue. Since March, about 1.5 million mice have been inhabited in the areas of bridge compression and expansion, as well as in the longitudinal grooves along the bridge. The bridge is ideal for bats to breed. Every night after sunset, mice fly out to hunt for insects, and their flight is visible even with a meteorological radar. The monitoring of the mice's departure is similar to the representation, and at least 100,000 tourists congregate annually to see it. Mice migrate to Mexico in the winter.

Austin Zoo is located in a non-included area in the west of Travis County. The zoo provides shelter to animals that had to be moved, including due to their mistreatment.

The Austin Park and Recreation Zone Department was awarded the Best Organization of Rest at Waterbodies in 1999 and also received the 2004 gold medal from the National Parks Association. Austin has more than 50 public pools and many parks. The list of known bathing sites includes the oldest Deep Eddy Pool, as well as the largest natural city swimming pool, Barton Springs Pool. The water temperature in both lakes ranges from 20°C in winter to 22°C in summer.

Austin parks are popular for climbing, boat and kayak riding, swimming, nature exploration, cycling and hiking. In the center of the city is Austin's green belt, a long-standing parking lane that includes Zilker Park. The natural pool and Hamilton Pool Park are a 30-minute drive away.

Among all people working in Austin, 73% go to work alone, in a car, 10% form a car pool, 6% work from home, 5% get to work by bus, 2% walk and 1% by bicycle.

Highways

Pennibaker Bridge

Most of Austin lies around two major north-south roads: Interstate I-35 and Texas Mopac Expressway (loop 1). From east to west, the city is crossed by U.S. Highway 183 and state motorway 71. Austin is the largest city in the United States, through which only one interstate highway passes.

The U.S. number 290 motorway passes through the city's northeast, then merges with the I-35, then becomes part of state highway 71, and then again becomes a separate highway on the city's western outskirts. Trunk 71 continues to Brady, and Route 290 joins I-10 in the Junction area. The I-35 in the south passes through San Antonio and ends at the border with Mexico, in Laredo. In the north of the state I-35 passes through Dallas and Fort Worth. To the east, Houston, Austin, has two main roads: the 290 motorway, and the 71 road, which is in front of Houston, into I-10.

In the mid-80s, the city built a state motorway, 360, which runs through the picturesque places of the city. The route starts near the intersection of the 71 and Mopac motorways in the south and ends at the intersection of the Mopac and the 183 motorway. The Pennybacker bridge is built at the intersection with Lake Austin.

toll roads

The first stretches of state road 130 were opened in 2006. The main line runs from I-35 in Georgetown to intersection with another state highway, number 45. In November 2012, the extension of the 130 south highway to the crossing with the I-10 in Segin, 50 kilometers from San Antonio, was opened. The track is notable in that throughout the course the speed limit is not lower than 80 miles per hour (about 130 km/h), and at 66 km to Segin the limit is 85 miles per hour (about 137 km/h), which is the highest permitted speed throughout the US.

The state 45 motorway consists of two separate sections. The north runs from the intersection with the 183 motorway in Cedar Park to the 130 in Pflugerville (east of Ra'und Roca). The southern section connects the I-35 and the 130. An alternative toll road 183A was also built between Cedar Park and Liender. The Mopac route has a dedicated paid lane from the city center. The northern section of approximately 6 kilometers long is fully paid. In the north-east there was built a toll dubler of the US 290 motorway, and in the south-east, near the airport, there is a paid double of the highway of 71 states.

The construction of toll lanes of the US183 motorway in the south-east of the city in the airport area, as well as in the north of the same highway, is continuing. The project for the construction of dedicated toll lanes on the south of the Mopac motorway and the project for the extension of the toll motorway 183A are under consideration.

Despite expectations of high revenues, the 130 has not yet met investors' expectations, a fact that could affect future toll road planning in the region. To unload the city center and at the same time increase the attractiveness of the highway, a proposal was made to swap 130 highways with the interstate highway I-35.

Airports

Austin Bergstorm Airport is located eight kilometers south-east of the city (IATA Airport Code: AUS). Prior to 1993, the airport was part of Bergstrom Air Force Base, which was closed under the relocation and closure plan. Prior to the public opening of Austin Bergstrom Airport, the commercial airport Austin was the municipal airport of Robert Müller.

Public transport

Capital MetroRail Railway

Public transport in Austin (mainly bus service) is managed by the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Capital Metro). Bus routes in the city are divided into local, departures, extra, chord, specialized (routes within downtown, to MetroRail stations, as well as night) and express routes. The MetroRapid bus system, launched in 2014 and with some characteristics of speed transport, is a separate category. High-tech buses consist of two sections, have three doors, allow to prolong the traffic signal when approaching it bus, equipped with wireless Internet. MetroRapid stops show the remaining time before the bus arrives based on continuous information. Two express routes pass through almost the entire city from north to south. In the city center, part of the route passes through the allocated lanes.

Since 2010 there is a suburban railway line Capital MetroRail (length 51 km), linking the center of Austin with suburbs in the north.

There are two companies providing intercity bus services to Austin: Greyhound Lines and Turimex Internacional. The latter's buses depart to Laredo and continue to several Mexican cities. Austin is the route of the long-distance passenger train Texas Eagle (Chicago-Los Angeles) from Amtrak.

Other transport

Austin was the first city in the Western Hemisphere to offer a short-term car rental program Car2Go. The city is also one of the most convenient for cycling in Texas. The League of American Cyclists awarded the city a silver rating.

Walking

According to the 2011 downgrade, Austin is ranked 31st in the list of the 50 largest cities in the United States, with walking access to all necessary accommodation.

Researchers from the University of Central Connecticut named Austin the 16th in education in 2008. The Austin Public Library operates several offices around the city, and the Austin University Library of Texas is considered the seventh largest library in the country. Austin was named the best university city in America by the results of the voting on the channel Travel. More than 43% of the city's residents over the age of 25 have a bachelor's degree and 16% have a tertiary education. The bachelor's rate is the eighth largest metropolis in the United States.

Higher education

University of Texas in Austin

The University of Austin, the University of Texas at Austin, is the main university in the University of Texas. The university has more than 38,000 students and 12,000 postgraduate students. In 2010 U.S. News and World Report named the university as the 45th among national universities and the 13th among public universities. The university spends more than $640 million on research and has the best legal, engineering, and business programs in the state.

The following higher education institutions are also functioning in the city: St. Edward’s, Concordia, Huston-Tillotson, Austin Community College, the Seminary of the Southwest, the Acton School of Business, Aspirant Austin Graduate School of Theology, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Austin Branch of Virginia College, Austin Institute of Art, Ostenich, the Conservatoire de Conservatoire, and the Department of Park University.

Primary and secondary education

Austin has a wide range of institutions offering high-quality primary and secondary education: In addition to 29 school districts, the city has 17 charter schools and 69 private schools. Most of the city is served by the Austin Independent School District. Two school districts, Ince and Roundrock, were awarded the "golden" status by Expansion Management Magazine.

Private and alternative education

The list of private and alternative educational institutions includes schools: Regents of Austin, Redeemer Lutheran School, Garza (Public), Austin Discovery School, Austin Jewish Academy, The Austin Waldorf School, The Griffin School, The Khabele School, Concordia Academy, St. Ignatius Martyr Catholic School,Holy Family Catholic School, San Juan Diego Catholic High School, Brentwood Christian School, St. Austin Catholic School, St. Stephen’s Episcopal School, St. Mary's, St. Theresa’s, St. Michael’s Catholic Academy, Saint Gabriel’s Catholic School, St. Andrew's Episcopal School, St. Francis Episcopal School, Saint Paul Lutheran School, Trinity Episcopal School, Huntington-Surrey, Cleaview Sudbury School, The Inside Outside School, ACE Academy, Paragon Preparatory Middle School, Austin International School, The Progress School, and several Montes schools sore. A number of schools, such as the Whole Life Learning Center and the AHB Community School, also offer part-time education.

A number of special education centers are also based in Austin, including the Autism and Related Disorders Center, the Texas Autism Center, the Early Development Center for Autism Patients, and the Johnson Children's Health and Development Center.

According to Sister Cities International, Austin's sister cities are:

• Saltillo (1968)
• Maseru (1978)
• Lima (1981)
• Adelaide (1983)
• Taizhong (1986)
• Oita (1990)
• Koblenz (1991)
• Xishuangbanna-Dai Autonomous Okrug (1997)
• Orlu (Imo) (2000)
• Kwangmen (2001)
• Antalya (2009)
• Anger (2011)
• Haqni (London district) (2014)
• Manaus (2015)
• Puna (2018)

The following cities have friendly status:

• Villefranche-sur-Mer
• Siem Reap
• Tehuakang

Two cities were removed from the twin cities list by the Austin City Council vote in 1991:

• Belo Horizonte
• Elche

• Taran by plane in Austin
• Murder in a Yogurt Café is a crime committed in Austin

• Austin Official Website