Smash City, a food truck specializing in halal smash burgers, recently opened outside of Q2 Stadium.

The overview: The menu features a variety of smash burgers, traditional burgers and hot dogs. Customers will also find street tacos, fries, onion rings, mozzarella sticks, churros and milkshakes. The food truck is located in the parking lot of the Sunoco gas station on West Braker Lane.

The company now also has locations in Houston as well as in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Kenner, Louisiana.

• Opened May 16

Renters in Austin will soon be guaranteed more information about the various costs associated with their leases under a new transparency policy prompted by officials' push against "junk fees."

The details: In a move billed as a piece of Austin's housing affordability strategy, City Council first called for full fee disclosures at the start of the leasing process in 2024. That mandate is now going into effect and will impact a large share of the local population as nearly 59% of Austin households are now renting.

While extra fees can be detailed on common leasing forms, landlords or property owners aren't obligated to provide that information—and may also not share it until prospective tenants have already paid to apply or signed a long-term lease. Starting later this year, all mandatory, optional and variable fees will have to be disclosed early in the leasing process.

Texas has no state-level rules about fee disclosures and legislation on the topic stalled last year, while federal rulemaking about "deceptive" rental practices remains in progress.

Waterloo Greenway Conservancy will unveil new trail systems on June 6 as part of the Waterloo Greenway project. The Confluence, Phase 2 of the project, features a half-mile stretch of trails along Waller Creek between Fourth Street and Lady Bird Lake, according to a news release. 

The Confluence showcases a design meant to bring wildlife, green spaces and a place for community gathering to the center of downtown, said John Rigdon, Waterloo Greenway Conservancy’s chief planning and design officer. 

Why it matters: The new trail also showcases over 1,600 trees, 200,000 plants and 200 different native species that were planted as part of the project. For context, Rigdon said, Waterloo Park features 90,000 plants and 5,000 trees. 

The grand opening: Waterloo Greenway Conservancy will welcome the public to The Confluence for the first time on June 6, debuting its new environment.

• Opens June 6
• Downtown Austin

Check out six upcoming or ongoing transportation project updates across the Austin metro.

Upcoming projects
Austin will commit $104M to support future I-35 decks: Austin will commit more than $100 million to support future public amenity decks covering portions of I-35, after a scaled-down alternate proposal was tabled this spring. The city would develop larger caps and smaller stitches to cover the interstate, connecting downtown and East Austin with public decks that could house parks, plazas and small buildings or venues. Building all caps and stitches is now estimated to cost about $400 million, added amenities across all decks could cost nearly $260 million, and maintaining the structures will cost about $9 million annually once they're in place. 

Ongoing projects
Construction on Austin Avenue bridges in Georgetown to resume: The southbound Austin Avenue bridge decks will be demolished beginning this month in preparation for new bridge construction. Demolition will take approximately two months, and both bridges are anticipated to be completed and open to traffic next April. 

In smaller communities and cities around the Greater Austin area, demand for health care specialists has risen at a rate unmatched by access to professionals, said Ashley Price, Austin Regional Clinic's vice president of operations.

Austin Regional Clinic, or ARC, is expanding its specialty services both north and south of Austin to provide unique care to residents in the surrounding cities.

Current situation: Access to health care specialists in Central Texas can be a barrier for residents seeking medical care, Price said. While cities neighboring Austin are growing rapidly, the nation faces a shortage of both primary care physicians and specialists.

Specialists, nurse practitioners and physician assistants with ARC travel to multiple clinic locations to meet patients where there is a need, so they are not required to journey into Austin for care.

The specifics: ARC is further expanding with the opening of a Lockhart clinic on June 15, and ARC South Specialty in South Austin, opening in phases beginning June 1.

ARC also opened the Greenlawn Specialty clinic in Round Rock on Jan. 19.