The Urban Transportation Commission (UTC) voiced opposition to a City Council-backed proposal to consolidate several of Austin’s boards and commissions, including a plan to merge the Bicycle Advisory Council (BAC) and Pedestrian Advisory Council (PAC) into the UTC. The proposal, aimed at streamlining city operations and reducing administrative burdens, could come back to Council for […]
Pedestrian Advisory Council
A citizen council that reviews and recommends initiatives for walking in the city.
Posted inRoads
TxDOT wants to add four lanes to I-35, but a citizen work group is pushing ‘BAC’
At the April 5 joint meeting of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory councils (BAC and PAC), members reviewed a Google doc detailing their recommendations to the Texas Department of Transportation regarding the I-35 Capital Express Project. The massive highway project proposes adding two managed lanes, in an attempt to relieve congestion, to each side of Interstate 35, […]
Posted inRoads
TxDOT anticipates ‘meaningful alternatives’ to I-35 expansion in upcoming public input process
Despite the sharp drop in local traffic, renewed interest in teleworking policies, and major upsets to transportation revenue streams, the Texas Department of Transportation has no intention of rethinking the need for a $6.6 billion expansion of Interstate 35 through Central Austin between U.S Highway 290 East and Ben White Boulevard. “When we plan projects […]
Posted inTransportation
Austin Transportation makes strides for transparent project data
The Pedestrian Advisory Council is asking the city for more public updates on mobility projects as the Austin Transportation Department continues developing its online interactive database. Last Monday evening, the advisory board unanimously passed a recommendation drafted by chair Adam Greenfield calling for a more concentrated effort at updating the public via social media posts, […]
Posted inTransportation
County Transportation Blueprint: So many projects, so few dollars
Between the city’s ambitious new mobility plan and the region’s transportation vision into 2040, Travis County is now working on prioritizing its own transportation goals for the next 30 years. The Commissioners Court approved a draft of the Transportation Blueprint in November 2018. Recently, the court kicked off a more aggressive public engagement process to […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Reshaping the land development code conversation
Still haunted by the misinformation battles of CodeNEXT, the Pedestrian Advisory Council passed two recommendations Monday, April 1, to help shift the land use conversation and support City Council as it takes up discussion of a new development code beginning later this week. The first recommendation is a predictably pedestrian-oriented response to City Manager Spencer […]
Posted inTransportation
City to consider franchise model for dockless mobility
Austin Transportation has been steadily slowing the stream of dockless units coming into the city and is now considering a 50 percent cut to the number of dockless mobility operators licensed to deploy their scooters and bikes. In a presentation to the Pedestrian Advisory Council on March 4, Jason Redfern, Parking Enterprise Division manager, and […]
Posted inTransportation
ASMP caught between pedestrian safety and need for speed
The city is promoting an everyone-wins approach to mobility in which maintaining, expanding and even adding car lanes is considered compatible with dramatically increasing use of other transportation modes per capita and cutting the number of annual traffic deaths and serious injuries to zero by 2025. Following a presentation on the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan […]
Posted inTransportation
Austin traffic deaths outlier in statewide trend
As streets are growing more dangerous year by year in Texas’ largest cities, Austin may be heading in the opposite direction. Data compiled by Pedestrian Advisory Council Member Adam Greenfield indicates that San Antonio and Dallas have experienced sharp rises in traffic deaths and serious injuries over the previous decade, with Houston following at a […]
Posted inPlanning
2019 could be the year to end city parking minimums
The Pedestrian Advisory Council is asking City Council to confront a broad spectrum of issues this year with a simple change to the city’s dated land use code. In a unanimous vote Monday evening, PAC approved a recommendation to Council to eliminate mandated parking minimums from the city’s land use code entirely. Among other requests, […]
Posted inPolice
One way to protect pedestrians? APD says more ticketing power
More power over more highways. That’s part of what the Austin Police Department hopes to attain in its effort to reverse last year’s record number of fatal car accidents, which resulted in 102 deaths, and limit the number of pedestrian deaths, which totaled 30 last year. “There was a city ordinance … that had not […]
Posted inAustin, Transportation
City lacks funding for pedestrian hybrid beacons
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 […]