Standing beside four other representatives from local and regional governments on Tuesday, Mike Heiligenstein of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority declared that Central Texas has to build its way out of congestion. “We cannot solve our problem without adding capacity in every sector of the region. Not just Austin, but the entire region,” Heiligenstein […]
Transportation
Posted inTransportation
Beneath the bond debate, planners begin exhaustive assessment of Austin’s transportation future
As Austin voters wrangle with a mobility bond on the November ballot, city planners are gearing up to draft a new transportation policy road map to guide decisions for decades to come. Work on the Strategic Mobility Plan soft-launched earlier this year and will make its formal debut sometime in early 2017. The plan will […]
Posted inRoads
Proposal to kick cars off downtown street yields a surprise
A proposal to move cars off of two downtown blocks would have a surprising benefit to late-night congestion, according to the Austin Transportation Department. Transportation Department staff told the City Council Mobility Committee on Wednesday that accommodating the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Downtown Station expansion by shuffling operations on East Fourth and East Fifth streets […]
Posted inTransit
Planning Commissioners raise concerns about proposed bus routes
Members of the Planning Commission raised concerns at a meeting last week in response to a presentation on the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s planned overhaul of bus routes. The ambitious 10-year plan, Connections 2025, aims to create a bus system that delivers more frequent service to more areas of the city, allowing more Austinites to […]
Posted inTransportation
Adler labors to clarify a complicated bond package
Mayor Steve Adler used two separate forums on Wednesday to address a set of “myths” that he said are circulating around his $720 million transportation bond proposal. “The myths as I hear them in the community are that the total cost of this is actually $2 billion,” Adler told the Austin Board of Realtors during […]
Posted inTransit
CTRMA board gives the go-ahead to gondola study
The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is leaving the future of mass transit to hang. On Wednesday, the CTRMA board of directors approved without any dissent a small stipend to study the feasibility of a proposed gondola system in South Austin. “We’re not a pavement company; we’re a mobility company,” said Chair Ray Wilkerson of […]
Posted inTransit
Capital Metro’s budget grows as ridership shrinks
With the beginning of the next fiscal year just around the corner, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority staff are putting the finishing touches on the agency’s proposed $428 million budget. On Monday, the board of directors will likely vote on the draft plan, which is more than $70 million larger than last year’s budget despite a […]
Posted inTransportation
Chamber says land reform is top transportation priority
The Austin Chamber of Commerce has a new primary pill in its prescription for treating the city’s notorious traffic congestion, but it’s one that’s been known to cause many a case of political hives: density. The group will unveil that recommendation along with several others that make up the meat of its 2016 Mobility Report […]
Posted inTransportation
CAMPO votes to reduce Travis County representation on key panel
Travis County residents will have a smaller voice in regional transportation planning after a vote on Monday that County Judge Sarah Eckhardt said for her was “a dark night of the soul.” The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Transportation Policy Board approved a streamlining of the Technical Advisory Committee, reducing its membership from 33 to […]
Posted inTransit
Cap Metro seeks input on plan that rewrites late-night and shuttle service
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is probing the public one last time before putting the final touches on a system-wide overhaul. That overhaul promises to increase frequent transit but also reduce late-night routes and University of Texas shuttle service. The agency has already conducted four open houses across Austin to show off the draft details […]
Posted inTransit
Turning from toll roads, CTRMA eyes gondolas
A high-flying idea to provide an alternative to driving through Austin could soon get off the ground. Sort of. On Wednesday morning, members of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority board of directors gushed over a proposal to install an aerial tramway that would ferry riders from the University of Texas campus through downtown and […]
Posted inRoads
$720 million mobility bond could feature hidden costs
The price tag of Austin’s second-largest transportation bond proposal ever has been pegged at $720 million, but extra costs could pile as high as $20 million if voters approve the package in November. The central piece of the plan calls for $482 million to be spent on projects along seven major corridors in town. Of […]