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 […]
November 2014 Transportation Bond
Austin City Council members approved a $1 billion mobility bond question for the city’s November 2014 elections on Aug. 7, 2014. In it, the city asks for $600 million in funding for a new urban rail system and promised to find an additional $400 million for major road improvements.
Posted inAustin, Radio
Austin Monitor Radio: 2014 Year in Review
Monitor Publisher Mike Kanin and Editor Elizabeth Pagano discuss some of the key stories of 2014. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/184441193″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
Posted inAustin, Elections, Transit, Transportation
Martinez to pitch bus rapid transit investments
City Council Member and Austin mayoral candidate Mike Martinez is looking to pitch multiple bus rapid transit lines as the next major transportation investment for the area. In an interview with the Monitor, Martinez nodded to the work done by Project Connect – efforts that led to a $600 million rail bond question that was […]
Posted inAustin, Bonds & Propositions, Elections, Local Politics
Austin rejects bond for urban rail by wide margin
Despite the backing of Mayor Lee Leffingwell and many of the city’s power brokers, Austin’s $1 billion transportation bond proposal, Proposition 1, went down to defeat Tuesday night. Opponents say it was the wrong plan in the wrong place, but those pushing for the mass transit system say it might have been Austin’s last chance […]
Posted inElections, Local Politics, Transportation
Northwest candidates talk transportation, affordability
Urban planning, pod transportation and green energy peppered Tuesday’s debate among City Council candidates vying to represent District 6 in Northwest Austin. All six candidates attended the forum, hosted by the Austin Monitor KUT News, KXAN and Univision at the Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline, off U.S. 183. Jimmy Flannigan, 36, owns Site Street, an online marketing […]
Posted inElections, Local Politics, Transportation
Candidates talk transportation at mayoral forum
Though Austin residents can only vote for one Council member to represent their geographic district this Election Day, everyone in the city gets a say in who becomes the next mayor. Five of those in the running showed up for the Civic Summit Mayoral Candidate Forum, Wednesday, presented by KLRU, Austin’s PBS station and the Urban […]
Posted inLocal Politics, Transportation
Council OKs rail ballot tweak; foes protest
Austin City Council members Thursday approved what they called a clarifying language change to what is now a November mobility bond ballot question. As they did so, they continued to hear vocal opposition from a handful of opponents to the item, which is set as a $600 million bond question and a “covenant” to construct […]
Posted inDevelopment, Local Politics, Transportation
Council OKs $1 billion transportation bond measure
The Austin City Council unanimously approved a $600 million bond proposition Thursday on the Nov. 4 ballot to help fund a rail initiative, while promising to put an additional $400 million into roadway improvements through other means, probably certificates of obligation or similar financial instruments. Through its bond language, the city is also attempting to promise […]
Posted inTransportation
AURA accuses Project Connect of funding political ads for urban rail
Project Connect’s ubiquitous summer media spots about its proposed urban rail project have drawn fire from the transit activist group AURA, which calls the ads unethical. The group says the ads are a political advertising campaign funded by taxpayer dollars. Project Connect officials say they are educational. The radio, television, print and digital ads in […]
Posted inTransportation
Transportation staff puts $400 million in road projects on the table
Austin Transportation Department Director Robert Spillar Tuesday presented Austin City Council members with a menu of options for road improvement projects that might grace a potential November 2014 city transportation bond. The full price of all the projects – much of it for Interstate 35 – mentioned by Spillar amounts to more than $400 million […]
Posted inLocal Politics, Transportation
Council reviews Central Corridor Study’s report on Urban Rail
The Austin City Council got a look Thursday at Project Connect’s Central Corridor Study recommendations for the city’s proposed high-capacity transit line, its initial route and its price tag. Project leader Kyle Keahey told Council members the study team recommends a Locally Preferred Alternative, or LPA, of an Urban Rail route from Riverside Drive […]
Posted inLocal Politics, Transportation
Council hears Transit Bond election’s effect on future tax rates
Amid questions revolving around a potential multimillion-dollar November 2014 Transit Bond election, city staff Tuesday laid out the city’s bonding capacity picture for Council members. Though the fact that a tax increase would be required to accommodate any amount of additional bonding was not quite news, the figures associated with such an action were […]