Transportation network companies such as Lyft and Uber have come a long way since they launched outside of Austin’s regulatory framework last May. Still, they have more distance to travel before they can be considered a permanent part of the city’s transportation system. Transportation Department staff presented the City Council Mobility Committee with a set […]
Transportation
Posted inTransportation
MoPac Boulevard project completion delayed
Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority officials announced Wednesday that a fully operational MoPac Boulevard may not happen until the end of the year. While the announcement currently delays construction only three-and-a-half months, officials said they were not confident they could complete the work even then. “We had a completion date — Sept. 17, 2015 — but the contracts move it […]
Posted inRoads, Transportation
Critics say CAMPO 2040 Plan doomed to fail
Those wondering what Austin-area roads might look like in 25 years need look no further than the 2040 Regional Transportation Plan. Many of those who have, it seems, do not like what they see. The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Transportation Policy Board heard mostly frustration from residents at a March 9 public hearing about […]
Posted inTransit
CapMetro board to vote on new bus routes
The Capital Metro Operations, Planning and Safety committee has approved adding several proposed bus service changes to the full Capital Metro board’s regular March 23 agenda for a final vote. Lawrence Deeter, senior planner for Capital Metro, presented proposed June 2015 service changes, once in a public hearing and also to committee members last Wednesday. The […]
Posted inHays County, Transit, Transportation, Travis County, Williamson County
CAMPO says buses should skip highway traffic
Most highway drivers resist the urge to cruise alongside a traffic jam on the route’s shoulder — it is illegal, not to mention rude. Some buses in Texas, however, may soon get a pass to jump the line. The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Transportation Policy Board narrowly recommended Monday that the Texas Legislature pass […]
Posted inTransit, Transportation
CapMetro committee to create partnership policy
Board members with the Capital Metro Operations, Planning and Safety committee directed staff to begin crafting a board policy that gives parameters around future sponsors and partnerships at their committee meeting Wednesday. On the heels of a presentation overviewing CapMetro’s 2015 South by Southwest operations, Marketing and Communications Vice President Dan Dawson revealed the agency […]
Posted inTransportation
CTRMA plans to add express lanes to MoPac South
A proposal to add four tolled lanes to MoPac Expressway, including two elevated lanes, raised concerns Monday from Travis County Commissioner Brigid Shea and others during a Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Transportation Policy Board meeting. “I don’t think there’s been adequate public dissemination of information about this,” Shea said. “I don’t think there’s been […]
Posted inAustin, Transportation
City lacks funding for pedestrian hybrid beacons
Transportation Department staff revealed that the city is out of funding for pedestrian hybrid beacons, leaving a backlog of more than 100 requests for beacons around the city. During the regular meeting of the Pedestrian Advisory Council, staff presented the process and criteria for installing beacons and noted halfway through the discussion that the program […]
Posted inCity Council, Transportation
Council members lock down South Austin gate
The Planning Commission and the city’s legal department will address a section of city code today that could give commissioners discretion over connectivity in preliminary plans. Last week, City Council exercised its own discretion and passed a resolution that will install a traffic-blocking gate at Aldwyche Drive. Both discussions were borne out of the Lightsey […]
Posted inRoads, Transportation, Travis County
TravCo to study Hamilton Pool Road improvements
Travis County Commissioners took the first step Tuesday toward potentially adding big changes to a section of Hamilton Pool Road, despite some opposition from area residents. At the end of their regular voting session, commissioners unanimously agreed to award $530,000 to the engineering firm Binkley & Barfield Inc. to begin researching possible improvements to Hamilton […]
Posted inDevelopment, Roads
Gated neighbors ask Crestview for a change
Neighborhoods and developers strike deals all the time. But what happens when people move into those compromises? One group of Crestview residents says that the time has come for the newcomers to be seen as neighbors, and they are asking that a gate barring access from their development to the neighborhood be removed. Brian Gannon, […]
Posted inAustin, Transportation
Work on Fifth Street to continue through SXSW
Utility construction on Fifth Street will continue through South by Southwest, despite plans to the contrary. On Friday, Public Works Department Director Howard Lazarus sent a memo to city staff explaining the situation. Though work on the Fifth Street chilled water line was scheduled to conclude by the end of February, the discovery that welds […]