2017 was the year that Gov. Greg Abbott, in particular, opened fire on Travis County, hacking state grants for key criminal justice programs after Sheriff Sally Hernandez softened her office’s policy on dealing with federal immigration enforcers. For Commissioner Brigid Shea, the governor’s “tantrum” presented a challenge that the Commissioners Court took head-on. “We looked […]
Brigid Shea
Currently the Precinct 2 Travis County Commissioner, Shea also co-founded Save Our Springs, is a former Austin City Council member and has been an advisor to LCRA, Seton, and the City of Austin in the past.
Posted inTransportation
Group keeps gondola hopes alive
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s firm disinterest in aerial gondolas is not discouraging one group from working toward a vision of cable car transit in Austin. John McCready of Look Up Austin told the Austin Monitor last week that he has plans in the works to publicly push the concept popularized by designer Jared Ficklin, […]
Posted inTravis County
Commissioner Brigid Shea: Preparing for the worst in 2017
Travis County Commissioner Brigid Shea will spend her 2017 much as she spent her previous two years in office: ensuring that the county and its residents are ready for the threats posed by climate change. “I’ve worked on climate-related issues for 28 years now and I realized that the county is a unique unit of […]
Posted inRoads
Austinites sound off on MoPac South
Austin-area elected officials, advocates and community members gathered at Austin High School on Monday for a forum on the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority’s proposed MoPac South tolled expansion. The event revealed a general dissatisfaction and frustration with the available options. “The best of these proposals don’t provide a direct benefit to Austin High or […]
Posted inTransportation
Google self-driving car now in Austin, policy not
A young man steered Google’s white Lexus RX – outfitted with a small sensor full of lasers, radars and cameras on its roof – down Riverside Drive on Tuesday. Arguably, the driver’s presence was a redundancy: The car that left the Long Center just before noon drives itself, and is now being tested by Google on the […]
Posted inRoads, Transportation
CTRMA approves MoPac/Cesar Chavez study
The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is taking a closer look at potential trouble spots on the proposed MoPac South Improvement Project, but not at the level some residents had hoped. At its regular meeting Wednesday, CTRMA’s board unanimously authorized the University of Texas’ Center for Transportation Research to begin a traffic impact study that will closely examine […]
Posted inLocal Government, Roads, Transportation
CTRMA stalls proposal to double-deck MoPac
A plan that could transform MoPac Boulevard now appears to be trudging rather than speeding along, though it still may reach its destination in due time. The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority announced Monday that it is delaying its proposal to add four tolled express lanes to a stretch of MoPac between Cesar Chavez Street […]
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 […]