As you can see from the above photo the lake is at an all-time low and the ramp is definitely closed.  You can still access the lake with a kayak or another craft that can be carried down to the water.  I hear fishing is good.  The above photo was taken by Jeremy and posted on Austinbassfishing.com. 

Austin Energy is supposed to be working on the dam (starting in January 2025) over the next two years and the ramp is not supposed to reopen until that work is completed (early-2027).  A drawdown is required to do the work, so the ongoing drought we are in and corresponding low water level from evaporation, should help expedite the work.  I sent an email to Austin Energy Communications regarding the ramp closure expressing my dismay that this work would take two years.  To the best of my knowledge this length of closure of public access for this kind of work is unprecedented in Texas.  Lots of dam work has taken place at the states many reservoirs without a total closure of motorized boating access.  Austin Energy obviously had this work planned for years, yet apparently did not consider the impact on public access at all in their plans.  Was there not anything they could do to keep the ramp open (e.g. - extending the ramp out with broken rock, scheduling of the dam work in a more compressed time-schedule etc.)?  Austin Energy never responded to my inquiry so I have to make the assumption no accommodations for maintaining boating access were even considered.  

The latest word I received from TPWD Inland Fisheries just after Thanksgiving was the City Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) is working with the TPWD Grants Program to secure a boat ramp grant for deepening the ramp during the closure.  PARD indicated in my latest communication with them that they are committed to improving the ramp so we can safely launch at lower water levels.  I received the same message from the City Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison's office (Council Member for that part of Austin) who followed up with PARD.  Let us hope that PARD follows through and actually does what they promised.  We need to hold them to that.  This drawdown is definitely a golden opportunity to finally fix a ramp that was never designed correctly in the first place and is currently in a condition (i.e. chronically closed) that is an embarrassment for a City with the resources and tax base of Austin.