San Antonio River Walk

The River Walk winds and loops under bridges as two parallel sidewalks lined with restaurants and shops, connecting the major tourist draws such as the Shops at Rivercenter, the Arneson River Theatre, Marriage Island, La Villita, HemisFair Park, Petty House, the Tower Life Building, the San Antonio Museum of Art, the Pearl, and the city's five Spanish colonial missions, which have been named a World Heritage Site, which includes the Alamo.

The area within the circumference of the River Walk is the heart of the original 1700s Villa de Bejar outpost, which would eventually become the City of San Antonio.

Work began on the Olmos Dam and bypass channel in 1926; however, the San Antonio Conservation Society successfully protested the paved sewer option.

However, over the next decade support for commercial development of the river bend grew, and crucial funding came in 1939 under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) which resulted in the initial construction of a network of some 17,000 feet (5,200 m) of walkways, about twenty bridges, and extensive plantings, including some of the bald cypress (others are several hundred years old) whose branches stretch up to ten stories and are visible from street level.

His plan would be put to the test in 1946, when another major flood threatened downtown San Antonio, but the Olmos Dam and bypass channel minimized the area damage.

The first major extension of the Riverwalk was constructed by the joint venture of two general contractors Darragh & Lyda Inc. and H. A. Lott Inc. to Tower of the Americas as part of HemisFair '68.

The expansion extended the Riverwalk beyond its natural banks at the horseshoe bend to the new convention center and theater by excavating much of the block bordered by Commerce, Bowie, Market and Alamo Streets.

In 1981 the Hyatt Regency San Antonio opened with a new pedestrian connector that linked Alamo Plaza to the River Walk with concrete waterfalls, waterways and indigenous landscaping.

This separates the automotive service grid (for delivery and emergency vehicles) from pedestrian traffic (below) through an intricate network of bridges, walkways, and old staircases.

In selecting Andrade and Wong, the council rejected City Manager Sheryl Sculley's recommendation to award the contract instead to the Chicago-based Entertainment Cruises, the choice also of former Mayor Phil Hardberger.