Bill Barker, FAICP, FITE, Regional Transportation Planning Director–Great Springs Project, introduces us to the Great Springs Project, a corridor of protected lands between San Antonio and Austin.

(The Alamo Group of the Sierra Club holds its general meetings the 3rd Tuesday of most months. They’re always free and open to the public.)

PROGRAM TOPIC: The Great Springs Project is creating a national park-scale corridor of protected lands between San Antonio and Austin over the Edwards Aquifer recharge and contributing zones. In addition, the four major springs in the corridor are being connected with an active transportation trail network from the Alamo to the Capitol. Timely completion is important. As one of the fastest growing regions in the U.S., development is rapidly filling in the remaining open spaces between San Antonio and Austin. But, progress is being made due to the many public and private partners engaged in, or supporting, the effort.

This presentation will provide an overview of the Great Springs Project and how it relates to the rapid spread of impervious land cover threatening water supplies, wildlife, flooding, and open space. An update on the current progress will be provided.

SPEAKER: Bill Barker has been advising Great Springs Project since 2019. He has served in the City of San Antonio’s Office of Sustainability, as VIA Metropolitan Transit’s Planning Director, as Executive Director of Solar San Antonio, and as an adjunct urban transportation and sustainability professor at UTSA and Trinity University.

As a consultant, Bill has helped public and private clients in seven states, Canada, and Mexico as well as the U.S. Departments of Energy and Transportation along with the Agency for International Development. He has been engaged in “think tank” projects with the UTSA Center for Urban and Regional Planning Research, Houston Advanced Research Center, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Center for Urban Transportation, and the National Academy of Sciences’ Transportation Research Board.

He also worked on the Apollo Program for NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. Bill is the only professional recognized as a Fellow by both the Institute of Transportation Engineers and the American Institute of Certified Planners. He has a B.S. in physics and a M.A. in urban affairs.

Contact: barker@greatspringsproject.org