Members of the Mobility Committee heard an argument Thursday for implementing a program that would increase enforcement of vehicles blocking bike lanes in hopes of making the streets safer for cyclists. Though the committee made no action regarding the future of the “bike lane bounty” program, City Council members who sit on the committee appeared to […]
City of Austin Urban Transportation Commission
The UTC is the body charged with advising the City of Austin’s Mayor and Council on transportation-related issues.
Posted inRoads
UTC calls TxDOT proposal to expand I-35 ‘just so weak’
Urban Transportation commissioners voiced their continuing concerns Tuesday about the Texas Department of Transportation’s plans to reconstruct and expand the portion of Interstate 35 that goes through Austin’s downtown. TxDOT is currently studying the environmental impacts of the two design options it has left – Build Alternative 2 and Updated Build Alternative 3 – and is scheduled […]
Posted inPlanning
Eureka Holdings right-of-way acquisition moves forward despite neighborhood objections
Homewood Heights residents took an unusual approach to resist development this past Tuesday, requesting that the Urban Transportation Commission reject a right-of-way vacation on an unmaintained and unused street. Despite concerns the vacation would reinforce hazardous traffic conditions, the commission recommended approving the application to vacate the section of Harvey Street in a 6-0-1 vote, […]
Posted inTransportation
Commissioners discuss CAMPO’s forecasts for the future
At a recent Urban Transportation Commission meeting, the executive director of the nonprofit Farm & City urged the commission to keep Farm & City’s concerns in mind when it comes to transportation planning around the region. Jay Blazek Crossley raised two main issues with the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s regional planning process. The first, he said, is that […]
Posted inBudget
Transportation budget includes post-pandemic rebound in parking fees
The Transportation Department’s $152 million budget was made possible in part by a rebound in parking revenue after a steep decline caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which drastically reduced single-passenger vehicle use for much of 2020. In a presentation to the Urban Transportation Commission earlier this month, Transportation Department Director Robert Spillar said parking revenues […]
Posted inRoads
Tolls or no tolls? City and state preferences differ for new I-35 lanes
The city of Austin, among other local stakeholders, is at odds with the Texas Department of Transportation and state leaders like Gov. Greg Abbott over the type of managed lanes in TxDOT’s I-35 Capital Express Project. Despite lobbying by the city for variable toll lanes like those on MoPac Expressway, TxDOT remains intent on non-tolled […]
Posted inRoads
Mobility Commission hears plea not to widen I-35
“BE IT RESOLVED,” read Urban Transportation Commission Chair Mario Champion, “the UTC urges TxDOT in the strongest possible way not to widen I-35.” This recommendation, along with many others from the Urban Transportation Commission, amounts to the city’s first official rebuke of the Texas Department of Transportation’s plans to widen Interstate 35 through Austin. At […]
Posted inRoads
Urban Transportation Commission creates working group to form I-35 recommendations
A Texas A&M Transportation Institute report recently ranked the segment of Interstate 35 that goes through Austin the most congested roadway in the state. This congestion is one of the reasons behind the I-35 Capital Express Project, a multiyear, multibillion-dollar transportation initiative that will add two non-tolled managed lanes in each direction along I-35 from […]
Posted inEnvironment
Commissioners identify reliance on electric vehicles as weakness in revised Climate Equity Plan
Transportation is the main driver of local air pollution and is on its way to becoming the single greatest source of greenhouse gases in Austin. Though the city and Capital Area Metropolitan Transportation Authority are taking steps to electrify their fleets, the city’s revised draft Climate Equity Plan has identified the roughly 600,000 fossil-fuel-burning private […]
Posted inTransportation
More walkable Congress Avenue vision gaining traction
An innovative framework meant to help reinvigorate Congress Avenue downtown has earned the favor of the Urban Transportation Commission. The framework was developed by the Pedestrian Advisory Council in May as a way to allow experimentation with pedestrian-friendly policies through trial and error. “We don’t know what the future holds,” PAC Vice Chair Adam Greenfield […]
Posted inTransportation
Transportation Department lays out plans for speed management
The Austin Transportation Department will ask City Council for $500,000 in new funding in the next budget to pay for a speed management program that will support Vision Zero’s goal to eliminate traffic deaths in the city. The funding would pay for a program manager, signage and other engineering solutions on streets found to need […]
Posted inTransportation
APD makes case for increased tow fee
The Austin Police Department says the city tow rate is due for an update. According to the department’s calculations, the current fee has fallen behind market rates and should be adjusted as soon as possible. While the city’s police tow rate has remained fixed at $150 since 2006, the Austin metropolitan area average tow rate […]