Cap Metro study to identify constraints and opportunities in completing remaining segments of Red Line Trail

At its State of the Parkway event on Monday, the nonprofit Red Line Parkway Initiative met with regional leaders and grassroots organizers to discuss continued work on the 32-mile trail along the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Red Line.

The Red Line Parkway Initiative is involved in planning, fundraising and community engagement surrounding the trail and will participate in building projects in the future. The group’s executive director, Tom Wald, recognized Capital Metro for revisiting the Red Line Trail study, which is expected to be completed in 2024.

“They’re putting almost a half-million dollars plus staff time into it to determine an end-to-end alignment for the corridor,” Wald said to applause.

Capital Metro is currently hosting a virtual open house on the subject that runs through Friday, Nov. 17. The study is examining the remaining segments of the trail, in coordination with regional jurisdictions, to develop an alignment with recommendations for near-, mid- and long-term implementation. In some stretches that present significant challenges, the study will seek to identify alternatives such as on-street options.

Wald also celebrated the passage of the Travis County bonds in October, which included $11,082,500 in funding for the Howard Lane Shared Use Path, and thanked Travis County Commissioner Brigid Shea, who was in attendance. The path will create a much-needed connection between McNeil High School and the Red Line’s Howard Station.

“There’s a lot of destinations up there that are separated by this huge gap of sort of undeveloped ranch land and industrial area,” Wald said.

Shea accepted an award from the initiative for her work to include the shared-use path in the bond. She explained that competition for bond funding is fierce, but the grassroots support for the project helped it stand out.

“No other project got that done,” Shea said. “They didn’t even come close. There was no contest between the number of people that Tom turned out and then the emails that came in. That was a critical piece of this. I just want to give a shoutout to the grassroots advocacy and organizing that goes on around a lot of transportation projects. Grassroots advocacy is hugely important.”

Wald also noted $5 million in trail funding pledged by the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority Board of Directors; stretches of trail currently undergoing design or construction; the inclusion of car-free crossings at Fourth Street and Hancock Center in the I-35 Capital Express Project; an $18 million grant awarded to Capital Metro to expand double tracking and install a trail at Fifth Street; and ongoing work to fit the trail into private developments being built along the way.

“We’re aiming to put wayfinding from Downtown all the way up to Walnut Creek – that’s about 12 to 16 miles – and that will help people know where they can use existing segments of the trail in on-street ways, and also just advertising,” Wald said. “Eventually, that will help bring energy to make it actually become a trail that’s separated from cars.”

Photo by Lee D’Angelo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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