In a popular East Austin park, a sidewalk leads off a cliff down a steep, rocky bank. Across the ravine, the sidewalk continues as if it were daring people to make an impossible leap. A pedestrian bridge used to connect the sidewalks in Roy G. Guerrero Park over a flood bypass channel known officially as […]
Nathan Bernier, KUT
Posted inTransportation
TxDOT wants cops to crack down on speeders, but APD’s traffic enforcement units are understaffed
With traffic crashes killing about 10 people a day across the state, the Texas Department of Transportation is launching its first-ever safety campaign focused on the leading cause of road deaths: speeding. The new campaign includes an increase in speed limit enforcement by police across Texas from June 7-21, officials said at the unveiling Thursday […]
Posted inTransportation
ABIA attempts ‘unusual’ use of eminent domain to force out South Terminal operator
Ask anyone stuck on an airplane waiting for a gate at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport if the Barbara Jordan Terminal is big enough, and you’ll hear something like this: “It’s mind-boggling to me that Bergstrom has not grown as it’s needed to. It’s embarrassing,” said Jon Lamb, a Florida resident who last month was stuck on […]
Posted inTransportation
Austin’s airport now wants people to arrive three or more hours before departure
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is busier than ever. With more than 250 flights a day, the airport is drawing an unprecedented number of passengers. But airline counters, TSA screening lines and concession businesses don’t have enough employees. The result has been notoriously long lines. With a busy Memorial Day weekend around the corner, the people who run […]
Posted inTransportation
TSA lines are out the door again at Austin’s airport
The lines for security screenings spilled out of the Barbara Jordan Terminal and onto the sidewalk Saturday morning at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The wait was so long that some people who showed up well in advance missed their flights. “It was pretty crazy,” said Arjun Kannan, a New York City resident who was visiting Austin […]
Posted inTransportation
TSA wait times are improving at Austin’s airport, but it’s about to get a lot busier
The wait to get through TSA security at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport has improved in recent weeks, airport officials say. Lines are no longer stretching through the terminal and out onto the sidewalk as they were in March, when AUS Executive Director Jacqueline Yaft pleaded with the TSA to send more officers. “Right now, the latest reports […]
Posted inTransit
Cap Metro CEO departs, leaving two Austin transit organizations without permanent leadership
Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Randy Clarke will leave Austin to head the public transit agency in Washington, D.C. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority announced this morning Clarke will take over in late summer as general manager and CEO. Clarke’s five-year agreement with WMATA includes an annual salary of $485,000 and a $4,000/month housing allowance […]
Posted inTransit
After Leander vote secures transit service, Cap Metro looks to ‘win over’ skeptics
Now that Capital Metro service in Leander is secure for at least five years following Saturday’s election, the regional transit agency wants to get opponents on board with spending a 1 percent sales tax on public transit. Proposition A asked Leander voters whether to cancel transit service and stop paying the tax to Capital Metro. […]
Posted inRoads
Nueces Street in West Campus to be converted to two-way road
The city of Austin will start work this summer to convert one-way Nueces Street between 24th and Guadalupe streets into a two-way thoroughfare, part of a long-planned project that fits with the voter-approved vision to run light rail down the Drag. The more immediate changes include installing crosswalks and a traffic signal at Nueces and […]
Posted inPlanning
Dirty Martin’s among a cluster of businesses slated to be forced out by light-rail line
When Austin voters approved the largest expansion of public transit in the city’s history, they signed up for higher property taxes to help pay for it. But now another cost of Project Connect is coming into focus: the loss of local businesses in the path of a light-rail line. One of the most eye-popping transformations […]
Posted inRoads
Construction material shortages are delaying TxDOT projects and driving up their costs
A shortage of building materials like steel and concrete is driving up costs for Texas Department of Transportation road projects and could delay some construction contracts. “We have also seen significant increases (over 100 percent in some cases) in some material prices,” TxDOT’s construction division director Duane Milligan wrote in an internal memo dated April 5. After […]
Posted inCity Council
Airport plan for jet fuel tank farm can go ahead after narrow Council vote
Austin City Council narrowly blocked an effort to stop a massive new fuel storage facility from being built at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The facility will store up to 6 million gallons of jet fuel a few hundred feet from homes. “Our hearts are heavy, because this isn’t the outcome that we wanted,” said City Council Member Vanessa […]