Little House On The Pavement Gets Unstuck In South Austin En Route To Lockhart [UPDATED]

SOUTH AUSTIN, TX -- The house that was stuck in the middle of a South Austin street after unsuccessful attempts to transport it to Lockhart finally became unstuck early Thursday.

Taylor-based moving company AAA-Austin Home Moveswas able to propel the structure by 12:30 a.m., according to the Austin American-Statesman. It had been stuck on East Live Oak Street for several days after it proved to wide to negotiate the streets.

A few tree branches were sacrificed to make room for the home's trajectory, and car trouble briefly stalled the propulsion, the newspaper reported. Still, there was enough steam to the effort to get it out of the neighborhood for good, the Statesman noted.

The protracted immobility was exacerbated after a neighbor called 911 when movers started to cut a neighbor's tree to make a path, halting everything when the resident called police on Saturday But just after midnight on Thursday, the little house on the pavement began its journey to Lockhart -- leaving a lifetime of memories and a good story to tell for the area's residents.

Little house on the pavement: We hardly knew ye.

>>> Read the full story at Austin American-Statesman

From Oct. 3:

SOUTH AUSTIN, TX -- This is a traffic obstacle one doesn't see every day: A house stuck in the middle of the road, with no foreseeable date for its removal.

Travis Heights residents are complaining that the pitched-roof house is resting smack dab in the middle of East Live Oak Street, where it's been stuck all weekend, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Worse, it's likely to stay there for several more days, according to transportation officials.

It started late Friday when movers began to transport the house from its Brackenridge Street lot. But then the movers abandoned the structure the following day when they couldn't squeeze it past the roadway given its width.

The errant structure has now become a nuisance to residents, but also something of curiosity. According to the Statesman, residents have been taking photos and videos of the stuck house all weekend.

According to the city transportation department officials, the company tasked with moving the dwelling has since been cited for blocking the road, the Statesman reported. A spokesman for the city department said the house probably will have to stay there through Monday to give the moving company enough time to get a permit to close the road and figure out its next step in taking the house to its original destination in Lockhart, the newspaper reported.

But one can't blame the movers for lack of effort. One neighbor told the Statesman he was awakened at about 5 a.m. during the move to the sound of the house slamming into a telephone pole before they cut his neighbor's trees to clear a path. But when they tried cutting his trees, that's when police were called, the Statesman reported.

In advising residents to the situation, the Austin Police Department issued a pithy warning comprising four words that strike terror in the hearts of drivers: "Plan ahead for detours."

>>> Read the full story at Austin American-Statesman

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