The intersection of South Congress Avenue and East Live Oak Street is the starting point of one of Austin's protected Capitol View Corridors, a wedge of air in which state law forbids any building that would block the view of the Capitol dome. Chapter 3151 of the Texas Government Code names it the South Congress at East Live Oak Corridor. It begins at an elevation of 574 feet above sea level and runs north-northeast for about 12,500 feet, roughly 2.4 miles, to a point 100 feet from the center of the dome, passing over the Colorado River and the downtown blocks along Congress Avenue. The corridors grew out of a fight over height: in 1931 Austin capped new buildings at 200 feet to keep the Capitol preeminent.
Then in the 1960s the 26-story Westgate Tower rose beside the Capitol grounds over loud objection. Bank towers followed. In 1983 State Senator Lloyd Doggett carried Senate Bill 176, signed on May 3, 1983, which fixed thirty protected views by surveyed coordinates. Austin adopted its own matching ordinance in 1985, and the state law was recodified in 2001. Other corridors start at the Zilker Clubhouse, the Lamar and MoPac bridges and the LBJ Library.
Developers build around the planes rather than through them, which is why some downtown towers narrow abruptly where they meet a viewing plane. In 2007 a city commission recommended re-examining 11 of the 30 corridors, and preservation groups objected; none of the changes was made, though in 2025 the Legislature dropped four corridors, leaving 26.
Getting there
30.2419, -97.7525
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