Transportation and Public Works Department gears up for mobility projects with EPA funding

The city’s Transportation and Public Works Department is teeing up a series of mobility hub projects and educational programs to combat greenhouse gas emissions with funding from a $48 million federal grant.

Today, City Council will formally amend the department’s special revenue fund to accommodate the windfall from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the administrator of the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program created by the Inflation Reduction Act.

Transportation and Public Works Director Richard Mendoza told Council at Tuesday’s work session that the department will work with regional agencies, including Capital Metro and the Capital Area Rural Transportation System to help achieve its goals.

“Forty-eight million dollars is going to really provide that shot in the arm to move our strategies forward,” Mendoza said of the five-year timeline.

The timing for the grant is especially fortuitous because of the number of major transportation projects in the pipeline – the I-35 expansion through Austin, the buildout of the Project Connect line and stations, and various corridor and other road construction plans.

All those projects combined will make getting around Austin even more challenging, Mendoza said. As such, bus and shuttle services and other transportation modes will be enhanced to help commuters and visitors ease the stress load.

Capital Metro and the Capital Area Rural Transportation System (CARTS) and shuttle service providers will beef up services with targeted funding – $17.5 million – from the grant dollars, Mendoza said.

Additionally, more than $7 million will go toward the creation of mobility hubs placed in strategic locations throughout the city to provide a range of travel options, plus park-and-ride locations will see some infrastructure improvements.

A key strategy in reducing emissions caused by single-occupancy vehicles may also prove the most demanding – changing people’s behavior, one driver at a time.

To accomplish the behavioral-change goal, the department’s educational efforts will run the gamut from incentives, subsidies and rewards to carpool matching. The $22.6 million campaign to get people out from behind the wheel will include multilingual outreach efforts to inform communities, especially those residents who will be most affected by major road projects.

Council members expressed excitement about the grant funding opportunities.

“It’s a rare and exciting opportunity for us to move the needle on our climate goals,” said Council Member Paige Ellis, who chairs Council’s Mobility Committee and serves on the governing board of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, one of the transportation department’s partners in the ambitious endeavor.

“I’m excited for what’s to come and it couldn’t come at a more perfect time given the level of activity we’ll be in as a community,” Council Member Vanessa Fuentes said.  She said she was especially interested in leveraging the CARTS component of the project to ensure Del Valle residents and other Southeast Austin commuters will be able to access the service.

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