Connections 2025 is facing another monthlong delay. During a Monday afternoon work session on the proposed overhaul of the agency’s bus network, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board of directors remained riddled with anxieties, leading Chair Wade Cooper to postpone the expected Jan. 23 vote to implement the sweeping changes. City Council Member Delia Garza told […]
Transportation
Posted inRoads
CTRMA board bristles on SH 45 SW, MoPac South projects
The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority board of directors bucked its agreeable reputation on Wednesday by reining in a recommendation to give Executive Director Mike Heiligenstein millions in discretionary spending powers on one project while also asking pointed questions about another. The relatively feisty meeting featured a light agenda with only a handful of votes […]
Posted inTransit
At Travis County, CTRMA’s park-and-ride proposal hits another pothole
The Travis County Commissioners Court on Tuesday pitched a second strike against an elaborate plan to build eight new transit-oriented parking lots along Central Texas toll roads. County Judge Sarah Eckhardt’s decision to defer action on the proposal put forward by the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority comes a week after Williamson County Judge Dan […]
Posted inTransit
Work session reveals new details, wrinkles in Connections 2025 draft
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority could turn toward technology to help pick up riders left stranded by the proposed overhaul of its sprawling transit network. On Wednesday, planners told the agency’s board of directors that options such as carsharing, vanpooling, flex-route buses or other on-demand services could fill the gaps in coverage created by the […]
Posted inTransportation
Corridor plans could yield new traffic law, but buses might not benefit as promised
Mayor Steve Adler’s sales pitch for his successful $720 million transportation bond promised the creation of new bus pullouts along major city corridors so that, in his words, “cars can keep on going when the bus pulls over.” Transit advocates and the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority countered that notion with concerns that endless platoons of […]
Posted inRoads
Council members consider ways to lower neighborhood speed limits
Testimony included talk of a birthday. “Ben turned 10 on Monday at a rehabilitation facility in Dallas,” Kathy Sokolic told members of the City Council Mobility Committee on Wednesday. As we’ve chronicled before, a car hit Sokolic’s nephew, Ben, outside his home in the Mueller neighborhood in September. He survived, but his injuries have left […]
Posted inTransportation
State lawmakers veer into robot car conversation
The transportation buzz around the state Capitol during the buildup to the 85th Texas Legislature has included word of statewide ride-hailing regulations, toll road reform and now – perhaps inevitably – autonomous vehicles. The House Transportation Committee on Wednesday hosted a panel of experts and stakeholders to discuss the development of self-driving car technologies and […]
Posted inTransportation
Six months in, Vision Zero focuses on pedestrian safety
Holding back tears, Kathy Sokolic told roughly 30 people seated outside City Hall the story of a bruised heart. “On the evening of Sept. 12, our 9-year-old,” began Sokolic, before pausing to gather herself. “Our 9-year-old nephew, Ben, was hit by a truck on the residential street just feet from his home.” Ben survived – […]
Posted inTransportation
Capital Metro merges working group with city planning effort
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the city of Austin have joined together to expand the scope of work for the group of residents and stakeholders deputized to weigh in on the latest iteration of Project Connect. The Project Connect Community Advisory Committee, which held its first, and so far only, meeting on Oct. 21, […]
Posted inRoads
Speed limits going down on parts of Lamar and Parmer
The Texas Department of Transportation is moving to reduce speed limits on sections of two busy roadways in Austin. At least one City Council member, however, is hoping the city can go further than what the state agency put forward in an effort to reduce driving speeds and traffic accidents. The state agency is recommending […]
Posted inTransportation
CTRMA advances park-and-ride plan
The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is charting a path pocked with bureaucracy toward a set of brand new park-and-rides along its toll roads and express lanes. On Tuesday, the agency’s board of directors gave staff the green light to apply to a state agency for unused Qualified Energy Conservation bonds allocated by the federal […]
Posted inTransit
Uber wants to come back to Austin
Uber does not have hard feelings about Prop 1. In a forum hosted by the Austin Monitor, Glasshouse Policy and KUT on the patio of the Ginger Man bar downtown, a representative of the ride-hailing giant expressed regret about the tenor of the multimillion-dollar campaign waged by the company earlier this year. The campaign attempted […]