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 Partnership (ATP) to morph blueprints into steel and concrete. On the parallel track, a […]
Nathan Bernier, KUT
Posted inTransit
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 shockingly counterintuitive to some Project Connect advocates who would prefer Austin try to slay the […]
Posted inTransportation
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: three new gates two relocated gates dining areas for concessionaires additional restrooms a children’s play […]
Posted inRoads
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 old railroad route that shut down almost half a century ago. The 28-mile MoKan Corridor […]
Posted inTransit
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 challenging the Austin Transit Partnership’s (ATP) powers to borrow money come as the organization is […]
Posted inRoads
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 start eight years of construction, residents got a chance to weigh in on the sweeping […]
Posted inTransit
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 public transit in the city’s history. The Orange and Blue lines eventually will offer frequent service along almost 30 […]
Posted inRoads
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 – echoed calls from Council members to allow for more east-west connections across the highway, […]
Posted inParks
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 years in the making, involving the input of thousands of Austinites – is supposed to […]
Posted inRoads
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 demands approved on a 10-1 vote Thursday – with only Mayor Kirk Watson opposed – […]
Posted inTransportation
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 landowners with no stake in the deal who were appointed by a judge – is […]
Posted inTransit
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 as president and CEO. “It is a complete honor to accept this position,” Watkins said […]