The people who filed suit last fall to stop the Austin Transit Partnership from proceeding without another bond election have intervened in a lawsuit filed by the city and ATP seeking to validate bonds needed to build the light-rail system. The plaintiffs’ goal is to remove the city as a party to the bond validation […]
Austin Transit Partnership
Posted inTransit
Fresh details on Austin’s light-rail plans emerge as officials chase federal cash
Lee esta historia en español Austinites curious about the city’s light-rail future are being offered fresh details as the Austin Transit Partnership (ATP) launches an in-depth environmental review in a bid to qualify for billions in federal cash. The new information on the electrically powered 9.8-mile system isn’t nearly as revealing as the block-by-block maps and subway […]
Posted inTransit
Austin confronts legal challenge to 10-mile light-rail plan
City Council and the Austin Transit Partnership (ATP) are firing back against a lawsuit aiming to terminate the vision for a 10-mile light-rail network – the single most ambitious public transit project in the city’s history. In legal filings in Travis County civil court, Council and ATP don’t cede any ground. They deny all claims in the lawsuit […]
Posted inCourts
Aggrieved citizens sue over funding Project Connect
A group of prominent citizens has filed suit against all members of City Council and members of the Austin Transit Partnership Board of Directors, claiming that ATP may not legally spend city property taxes or issue debt needed to build Project Connect because what is being built is drastically different from what was promised to […]
Posted inEnergy
City considering capital projects, private development as sites for underground power lines
Austin Energy and various city departments are studying how to bury selected sections of overhead power lines underground to reduce the impact of extreme weather disasters. The burying of lines, which in many cases also serve equipment for private communications companies or other utilities, is one of the solutions suggested after the February winter storm […]
Posted inTransit
Application period still open for Project Connect anti-displacement Community Advisory Committee
There is still time to apply to join the citizen committee that will advise the city of Austin, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Austin Transit Partnership on anti-displacement and equity matters related to Project Connect. The city’s $7 billion investment in Project Connect included $300 million for anti-displacement measures that will go toward […]
Posted inTransit
Austin Transit Partnership seeks federal grant funding for light rail
Leaders of the Austin Transit Partnership are expected today to give the OK to petition the federal government for transportation grants needed to cover half the cost of the planned light rail system through downtown Austin. That step, which will come during the ATP Board of Directors meeting, will be the most significant public move […]
Posted inTransportation
City needs more planning staff to complete federal transit grant work for light rail
The Planning Department says it needs four new staffers to prepare for the first phase of light rail through downtown. That was one of the findings in a new memo outlining the department’s work to make equitable transit-oriented developments, or ETODs, a major piece of city planning for the next decade-plus. The new staffers would […]
Posted inTransit
Transit and city leaders agree on final plan for Austin’s light rail system
Austin leaders on Tuesday gave an official thumbs-up to the city’s massive rail line project just two weeks after the plan was revealed to the public. The final vote taken by City Council, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors and Austin Transit Partnership sets in motion the next phase of the plan, which […]
Posted inTransit
Austin light rail gets first approval amid looming Texas legislative threat
Austin’s newest light-rail vision – a $5 billion map set to redefine 10 miles of streets – is traveling two parallel tracks this week. On one track, city decision-makers are flashing the go-ahead signal, setting the stage for the Austin Transit Partnership (ATP) to morph blueprints into steel and concrete. On the parallel track, a […]
Posted inTransit
On-street light rail route selected as best option for city’s mass transit plan
Local transit leaders have selected an entirely on-street light rail line that runs through downtown and stretches mostly north and east with a spur that reaches somewhat into southern Austin as the route that will most likely be approved for construction. Austin Transit Partnership today announced that the two-train route running from 38th Street south […]
Posted inTransit
Paxton opinion notes likely missteps, possible way forward for Project Connect
Many questions remain about the path forward for Austin’s Project Connect transit plan following an advisory opinion from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that noted some likely legal hurdles related to the funding model created to pay for the system. Paxton issued his opinion on Saturday at the request of state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, […]