An ailing effort to run passenger rail from the Austin area to San Antonio might only have two months left to live. On Monday night, the head of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Transportation Policy Board suggested that he would soon seek to take formal steps that would essentially shut down the Lone Star […]
CAMPO
The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization is the regional planning organization for Bastrop, Burnet, Caldwell, Hays, Travis, and Williamson Counties. Its membership is drawn from the elected officials of those municipalities, as well as various cities that fall within the region, including the City of Austin. CAMPO’s focus is on regional transportation issues.
Posted inTransportation
Lone Star Rail pulls into CAMPO meeting tonight
The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization is once again putting the Lone Star Rail District, or LSTAR, under the microscope on Monday evening. CAMPO’s Transportation Policy Board is set to discuss recent moves that have been made to get the dream of passenger rail service between Georgetown and San Antonio back on track. The board […]
Posted inTransportation
CAMPO wants to get fiscal with Williamson County
The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization is breaking up with the city of Austin in the hopes of a better future with Williamson County. CAMPO’s Transportation Policy Board voted unanimously on Monday to enter into a fiscal agent agreement with Williamson, thus ending a relationship the transportation agency has had with the city since the […]
Posted inTransit
Hays County uncouples from Lone Star Rail
After dodging a potential death blow on Monday night, the Lone Star Rail District took another hit on the chin on Tuesday. One day after the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization opted not to freeze its funding of LSTAR, the Hays County Commissioners Court voted to ditch the passenger rail planning effort. The measure on […]
Posted inTransportation
Lone Star Rail dodges “kill-shot” at CAMPO
The Lone Star Rail District survived what could have been a potentially fatal vote at the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Transportation Policy Board meeting on Monday night. A marathon discussion over LSTAR’s fate began when CAMPO Board Chair Will Conley offered a two-part resolution that would have asked the Texas Department of Transportation to […]
Posted inRoads
CAMPO board approves sizable cost increase for 183
The cost of a large expansion of U.S. Highway 183 in Northwest Austin officially nearly tripled on Monday night. At its monthly meeting, the Transportation Policy Board of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization voted to amend its long-range plan to increase the price of the 183 North Mobility Project from $225.7 million to $650 […]
Posted inBicycles, Transportation
Regional bicycle, pedestrian projects get funding
As Austin and Central Texas grow and become more congested, city and regional leaders are looking at bicycle and pedestrian projects as ways to cut down on traffic. On Oct. 12, the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Transportation Policy Board took a step in that direction by approving federal funding for almost a dozen such […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: In so many words
Last week, the Austin Monitor reported on a press conference held by the Travis County Taxpayers Union to announce the group’s opposition to Travis County’s $287 million Civil & Family Courts Complex bond. Due to space constraints, we included in that story only a snippet of remarks made by the bond campaign’s manager, Genevieve Van […]
Posted inTransportation
Special Report: Manor, planning for the future
Today, the Austin Monitor, KUT and KLRU present a collaboration that examines the impact of our region’s growth on Manor, Texas: Austin’s Eastern Frontier. We invite you to explore that series and offer you this piece on transportation planning efforts in the area as a bonus. While there is no way to predict the future of […]
Posted inRoads
Alternative to MoPac “double-deck” being studied
In the wake of public outcry against a proposal to add elevated lanes to MoPac Expressway over Lady Bird Lake and Zilker Park, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is considering an alternative that the Austin Transportation Department first put forward in May. The staff alternative cuts out a “double-deck” design and a southbound flyover […]
Posted inTransportation
City transit heads and private innovators share MobilityATX stage
A bunch of men, and one woman, gathered Tuesday night in the new Google Fiber building downtown to discuss Austin’s transportation future. With Mayor Steve Adler, Capital Metro President and CEO Linda Watson and transportation app RideScout CEO Joseph Kopser fielding most of the questions from audience members and the moderator, the night’s conversation circled […]
Posted inTransportation
Adler pulls MoPac South express lane amendment
Without assurance that his proposed language change wouldn’t put the brakes on the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s 2040 Regional Transportation Plan, Mayor Steve Adler withdrew an amendment at Monday’s Transportation Policy Board meeting intended to clarify the description of the MoPac South express lane expansion. Currently, the plan describes the MoPac South expansion as […]