Stories by Nathan Bernier, KUT
Austin light rail gets first approval amid looming Texas legislative threat
Austin’s newest light-rail vision – a $5 billion map set to redefine 10 miles of streets – is traveling two parallel tracks this week. On one track, city decision-makers are flashing the go-ahead signal, setting the stage for the Austin…
Transit • By Nathan Bernier, KUT • May 25, 2023
Project Connect could be on the ballot again this November
Austin’s mayor is adopting a new strategy against a Texas bill that threatens to derail the city’s voter-approved transit expansion: Get the legislation passed as quickly as possible with overwhelming support in the Texas House and Senate. The approach seemed…
Transit • By Nathan Bernier, KUT • Apr 25, 2023
Construction starts next month on three-gate expansion of ABIA's Barbara Jordan Terminal
With passenger volumes soaring to new highs, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is getting ready to start construction next month on a $164 million expansion of the Barbara Jordan Terminal. The project will add more than 80,000 square feet of space including:…
Transportation • By Nathan Bernier, KUT • Apr 21, 2023
TxDOT could put a four-lane road where Austin is building a trail
The Texas Department of Transportation is studying whether to build a four-lane highway along the same stretch of land where Austin is planning to break ground next year on a 12-foot-wide concrete trail. Both projects fall within part of an…
Roads • By Nathan Bernier, KUT • Apr 13, 2023
Texas Legislature could derail Austin's transit expansion
Austin’s slowly shrinking vision for a fast-moving urban rail system by the end of the decade is about to face a new challenge, one that could upend the voter-approved transit expansion: property tax warriors in the Texas Legislature. New bills…
Transit • By Nathan Bernier, KUT • Mar 15, 2023
TxDOT to seize part of Waller Beach Park for I-35 construction
Interstate 35 in Central Austin is on the cusp of a once-in-a-generation change as the Texas Department of Transportation gears up for an almost $5 billion transformation of the highway that slices through the city’s core. Before the state’s contractors…
Roads • By Nathan Bernier, KUT • Mar 8, 2023
Subscribe to our newsletter
Behind a 'messed up' process to pick Austin's next light-rail leader
Lee esta historia en español The Austin Transit Partnership – a voter-created organization collecting almost $160 million a year in property tax to build a light-rail system – has chosen a permanent leader to oversee the single largest expansion of…
Transit • By Nathan Bernier, KUT • Mar 6, 2023
Travis County pushes TxDOT to modify I-35 plan to reduce land seizures, add crossings
Travis County commissioners are doing the same thing City Council did last week: asking Texas to tweak its gargantuan Interstate 35 expansion plan. The five-member panel of elected officials – led on this issue by Precinct 2 Commissioner Brigid Shea…
Roads • By Nathan Bernier, KUT • Mar 2, 2023
Austin misses goal of having direction signs on all urban trails
Austin failed to install directional signs, also known as wayfinding, on all urban trails by 2022, a specific target outlined in the city’s far-reaching transportation strategy. The Austin Strategic Mobility Plan was adopted unanimously by the City Council in 2019. The ASMP – two…
Parks • By Nathan Bernier, KUT • Feb 28, 2023
City Council demands changes to I-35 plan
Austin City Council wants Interstate 35 to have more crossings and fewer semitrucks, among other changes, as the Texas Department of Transportation gears up for a sweeping expansion of the highway through Travis County. But the list of City Council…
Roads • By Nathan Bernier, KUT • Feb 27, 2023
Austin ordered to pay South Terminal operator $90 million in eminent domain fight at ABIA
The city of Austin should pay $90 million to evict the company running the South Terminal at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, a panel of special commissioners ordered in Travis County Probate Court. The amount awarded by the special commissioners – three…
Transportation • By Nathan Bernier, KUT • Feb 8, 2023
It's official: Cap Metro chooses Dottie Watkins as new president and CEO
A bus driver who rose through the ranks of Capital Metro over three decades has now taken the top job at the transit agency. The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors voted unanimously Monday to hire Dorothy “Dottie” Watkins…
