Citing concerns about whether a proposed state highway improvement project will contaminate Barton Springs, the Environmental Commission recommended that City Council join a lawsuit against the state agencies behind the project. The proposed toll road, which would be built between MoPac Expressway and FM 1626 and would be known as State Highway 45 SW, could […]
Transportation
Posted inTransit
San Marcos support for LSTAR could be too little, too late
As the Lone Star Rail District approaches what could be the end of the line, one important city along its still-theoretical route is hoping to keep it on track. San Marcos City Council voted on Tuesday night to approve a resolution offering its support for the flagging passenger-rail effort. The item scored unanimous support on […]
Posted inRadio
Austin Monitor Radio: Getting into the Council transportation bond vote
Austin Monitor reporter Caleb Pritchard joins publisher Mike Kanin to chat about Council’s recent transportation bond vote. Post is embedded below: [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/272338594″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
Posted inTransportation
Council moves $720 million mobility bond forward
While most of Austin slept early Friday morning, City Council gave the green light to a mobility bond with little historical precedent. Just after 1:30 a.m., following a tortuous and fraught discussion marked by simmering tensions that at times neared outright hostility, Council voted 8-3 to direct staff to prepare ballot language for a $720 […]
Posted inBicycles
Advocates say bond funding for Bicycle Master Plan could diversify local biking community
Sharmar Mohamed Hassan doesn’t know the words in English to describe his bicycle. So he uses his native language, Somali, to tell me it’s a green road bike. And it’s his primary form of transportation in Austin — which, at times, can be a little touch-and-go. “I’m feeling afraid because there’s no bike lanes and […]
Posted inTransportation
Poll: 56 percent favor big bond election
Of the 1,200 Austinites polled about a proposed $720 million transportation bond election, 56 percent said they would vote in favor of such bonds if asked to do so in November. Thirty-six percent indicated that they would vote against such a proposal and 8 percent said they were unsure. Littlefield Consulting conducted the poll of […]
Posted inRoads
The mayor’s bond proposal is the “Smart Corridor Resolution.” So, what makes a street smart?
Cars, buses and trucks idle at the four-way intersection at Guadalupe Street and West Dean Keeton Street. A horde of prospective students takes to the crosswalk, the timer counting down. Traverse this intersection long enough and you might soon understand its varied pains: lights that are never green long enough and minimal crosswalks for a […]
Posted inTransportation
Council direction on bonds still unclear
Both Mayor Steve Adler and City Council Member Ann Kitchen have come up with new versions of their proposals for a transportation bond election in November. Adler’s revised proposal would still request voter approval to sell $720 million in general obligation bonds and is still called the “Go Big Corridor Plan.” Kitchen, who has complained […]
Posted inTransportation
With funding still in question, Council approves sidewalk plan update
City Council last week gave nearly unanimous approval to an update of the 2009 Sidewalk Master Plan. The 9-0-1 vote comes in the middle of the ongoing debate over a small batch of mobility bond proposals that could go before voters this November. “Forty years ago, people were not demanding sidewalks,” Council Member Pio Renteria […]
Posted inTransportation
Big doubts loom over Adler’s big bond
With just one more regular meeting before its July break, City Council appears far from reaching any clear consensus on dueling mobility bond proposals. “Essentially, what we’re all struggling with is a balance,” Council Member Ann Kitchen told her colleagues on Thursday evening. “There’s obviously huge needs for transportation across the city.” It was the […]
Posted inTransportation
Council approves law barring many former offenders from driving for taxi companies, TNCs
City Council approved an ordinance that will bar many convicted of low-level criminal offenses from operating a taxi or driving for transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft for many years after their offense. Those convicted of certain felony offenses, including a felony-level charge for selling, manufacturing or delivering drugs, will be permanently barred […]
Posted inTransportation
CTRMA goes shopping for partner to build SH 45 SW
The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority on Tuesday took another major step toward the construction of a highly controversial road project in southwestern Travis County. With a vote of 6-0, its board of directors directed CTRMA staff to start shopping for bids from contractors interested in building State Highway 45 Southwest. Director Bob Bennett, a […]