Lady Bird Lake

Town Lake
View from Lady Bird Lake toward Downtown Austin.
Town Lake Show map of Texas Town Lake Show map of the United States
Location	Central Austin, Texas, United States
Coordinates	30°15′03″N 97°42′49″W / 30.25083°N 97.71361°W / 30.25083; -97.71361
Type	Power plant cooling/recreational reservoir
Primary inflows	Colorado River
Primary outflows	Colorado River
Basin countries	United States
Built	1960
Surface area	468 acres (189 ha)
Max. depth	18 ft (5.5 m)
Surface elevation	428 ft (130 m)

Lady Bird Lake (formerly, and still colloquially referred to as Town Lake) is a river-like reservoir on the Colorado River in Austin, Texas, United States. The City of Austin created the reservoir in 1960 as a cooling pond for a new city power plant. The lake, which has a surface area of 416 acres (168 ha), is now used primarily for recreation and flood control. The reservoir is named in honor of former First Lady of the United States Lady Bird Johnson.^[1]

Lady Bird Lake is the easternmost lake of a chain of reservoirs on the river, which is completely located in Texas, and should not be confused with the larger Colorado River located in the Southwestern United States. This chain, known locally as the Texas Highland Lakes, also includes Lake Buchanan, Inks Lake, Lake LBJ, Lake Marble Falls, Lake Travis, and Lake Austin.