Regional transportation planners have resurfaced an effort to build parking lots for suburban bus commuters that fell off the radar earlier this year. On Wednesday, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority Board of Directors learned that the complicated funding strategy agency staff had been banking on as of January was no longer an option. Last […]
Transportation
Posted inTransportation
Southern corridor plans near finish line
The race to put together a road map of corridor spending from 2016’s mobility bond election is close to wrapping up its southern leg. After a condensed, accelerated effort that began in June, the city’s Corridor Program Office has made public a batch of draft recommendations to overhaul Slaughter Lane and William Cannon Drive. Staff […]
Posted inTransportation
Capital Metro no longer counting on ambitious I-35 bus plan
The Texas Department of Transportation’s big new plans for Interstate 35 through Austin may be the end of the road for the local transit agency’s hopes for bus rapid transit on the highway. “We don’t know for sure at this point, but our working assumption is that, given the new proposed design, there would not […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro board treated to an earful at two public hearings
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board of directors sat through hours of public testimony on Wednesday, much of it critical of the agency’s proposed bus network redesign. In fact, the board scheduled two separate public hearings, one in the early afternoon and the other in the evening. Dozens of speakers attended both and held forth […]
Posted inRoads
Watson presents a new plan for I-35
State Sen. Kirk Watson unveiled a radical vision for the future of Central Austin on Monday: No more dual decks on Interstate 35. Watson’s speech before the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce marked the debut of a new plan concocted by the Texas Department of Transportation to add two new tolled lanes in each direction […]
Posted inTransportation
Downtown leaders eye busing changes to manage traffic growth
Downtown Austin leaders are hoping that proposed changes in downtown routes and frequency for Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus service will increase the number of employers in the city’s core willing to offer alternative transportation plans for their employees in coming years. At a recent meeting of the city’s Downtown Commission, a pair of presentations […]
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Vacancies, lack of interest put Capital Metro’s customer advisory committees in the hot seat
The two committees intended to provide user feedback to the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board of directors could be cruising toward a makeover. At Monday’s monthly board meeting, Chair Wade Cooper and Council Member Ann Kitchen expressed concerns about vacancies on both the Customer Satisfaction Advisory Committee and the Access Advisory Committee. “If we’re not getting […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro board hears about proposed changes to proposed changes
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is making adjustments to a long-planned massive overhaul of its fixed-route bus network just weeks ahead of a scheduled vote on the sweeping changes by the board of directors. During an extended work session on Tuesday, agency staff gave the board an overview of the tweaks they are making to […]
Posted inTransportation
Corridor Program Office still preparing road map for voter-approved roadwork
As the first year of its eight-year timeline draws to a close, Austin’s Corridor Program Office is closing in on major milestones in its mad dash to put together the road map that will guide the voter-approved overhaul of several of the city’s major roadways. Staff have scheduled a pair of open houses at which […]
Posted inRoads
CAMPO greenlights MoKan study
The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Transportation Policy Board on Monday evening signed off on a plan to spend $500,000 to study the viability of the MoKan corridor, the largely unused swath of right of way that stretches from Williamson County down to East Austin. That initiative was lumped together with an additional $1.59 million […]
Posted inTransportation
Council to take up street impact fees today
In an effort to help fund public infrastructure made necessary by new development, the Austin Transportation Department is proposing new street impact fees throughout the city. These one-time fees for developers constructing new sites are intended to help pay for road improvements to assist in mitigating traffic in the expanding city of Austin. On Oct. […]
Posted inTransit
Urban Transportation Commission reacts to Capital Metro route changes
In September, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority informed the Austin public that there would be a major restructuring of citywide bus lines to kick-start the Connections 2025 transit plan. To elaborate on the exact changes, on Oct. 10, Caitlin D’Alton, a senior planner at the agency, offered the members of the Urban Transportation Commission a […]