The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is moving a little less rapidly toward the adoption of Connections 2025, thanks in part to public outcry about some of its proposed service changes. The agency is banking that the long-range service plan and its emphasis on frequent service will reverse sliding ridership, which the agency’s board of directors […]
Transportation
Posted inRoads
Construction set to start on SH 45 SW
A drawn-out, polarizing political battle that has kept anxious observers on the edges of their seats could be effectively settled for good on Tuesday. The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority announced on Monday that crews could begin construction on the controversial State Highway 45 Southwest project this week. Travis County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty, perhaps the […]
Posted inTransportation
TxDOT considers expanding Loop 360
Faced with increasing congestion, the Texas Department of Transportation is narrowing its options for the potential transformation of Loop 360. The agency published on Friday a 50-page study of the highway. It envisions nine separate scenarios that range from doing nothing to expanding the West Austin highway into a four-lane freeway flanked by managed toll […]
Posted inTransit
In Connections 2025 briefing, Council detours
City Council’s first briefing on the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed long-term service plan turned into a discussion on affordable housing, sprawl and park-and-rides this week. “As we all know, transportation is a system,” Council Member Ann Kitchen said as she introduced the transit agency’s vice president of strategic planning and development, Todd Hemingson, to […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro’s ghost stations haunt city sidewalks
Before you ride the bus this Halloween, be sure that you’re not waiting at a ghost station. Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority data reveals scores of inactive stops throughout Austin, relics of routes either altered or no longer part of this mortal plane. A handful – approximately 20, according to one agency planner – still feature […]
Posted inRoads
Work on MoPac to last into 2017
The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is tooting its horn over the partial opening of a new toll lane on MoPac Expressway while also remaining cagey about the expected completion date of the entire project. At the agency’s monthly board meeting on Wednesday, staff gave a glowing report on the operations of the fresh stretch […]
Posted inTransportation
In a city with many fatal car crashes, what will a $720 million bond do for road safety?
One hundred and two people died on Austin’s roads last year – the most in the city’s recorded history. There was the young woman killed around 5 a.m. while walking on the Interstate 35 frontage road; the 55-year-old unnamed bicyclist hit by a truck on Brodie Lane. Austin voters are now being asked to approve […]
Posted inTransit
Opting for parity, Cap Metro kills premium fare
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board of directors voted on Monday to eliminate the agency’s maligned premium fare tier. The vote was unanimous, at 7-0, with Board Member Juli Word absent. Starting in January, a single ride on MetroRapid buses and the limited-stop flyer routes will drop from $1.75 to $1.25, the same fare riders […]
Posted inTransportation
Council says no to public funding for Grove traffic mitigation
City Council on Thursday shot down a plan to explore using public money to mitigate any neighborhood traffic impacts from the Grove at Shoal Creek, a bitterly divisive planned unit development proposed for West 45th Street and Bull Creek Road. Council Member Sheri Gallo’s resolution would have directed city staff to look into the creation […]
Posted inTransit
CAMPO kills Lone Star Rail, commits to finding alternative
The kill-shot came abruptly and mercifully for the Lone Star Rail District (also known as LSTAR) on Monday night. After months of procedural dickering, the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Transportation Policy Board spent less than 10 minutes discussing the matter before voting to remove from its long-range planning document the proposed passenger rail service […]
Posted inTransit
CAMPO meeting spells terminal trouble ahead for Lone Star Rail
The long-suffering effort to install passenger rail service between Austin and San Antonio could effectively be put to rest on Monday evening. The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization board of directors will likely vote to remove the Lone Star Rail District from its long-range plan, known as CAMPO 2040. The vote promises to be the […]
Posted inTransportation
Updated: Data shows traffic dropping along key corridors
Update: Data obtained from the Texas Department of Transportation after this story was published show a dramatic spike in traffic along the North Lamar, South Lamar and Burnet Road corridors – and indeed around much of Austin in general – in 2015. Data show a milder increase in the Airport Boulevard corridor. Overall, vehicle counts […]