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Tag Archives: Project Connect

Project Connect scenarios balance budgets against potential size and ridership

Cost constraints facing Austin’s planned light rail line through downtown have resulted in five options that feature shorter routes and place tracks at street level with traffic, in a substantial departure from the initial plans approved by voters in 2020.…

Texas Legislature could derail Austin's transit expansion

Austin’s slowly shrinking vision for a fast-moving urban rail system by the end of the decade is about to face a new challenge, one that could upend the voter-approved transit expansion: property tax warriors in the Texas Legislature. New bills…

Transit leaders preparing new Project Connect scenarios for March open house

With a budget that no longer meets the vision approved by voters in 2020 for an ambitious mass transit system, leaders with the agency charged with carrying out the Project Connect plan say that work continues to decide what the…

Transit-oriented development plan prompts parking discussions

Parking has been at the center of discussions around the equitable transit-oriented development policy plan, a document City Council plans to vote on this week that will guide future housing and land use policies around Project Connect stations.  Elected officials…

Behind a 'messed up' process to pick Austin's next light-rail leader

Lee esta historia en español The Austin Transit Partnership – a voter-created organization collecting almost $160 million a year in property tax to build a light-rail system – has chosen a permanent leader to oversee the single largest expansion of…

Canally named sole finalist for ATP amidst confusion

Members of the Austin Transit Partnership Board of Directors have unanimously recommended that ATP interim Executive Director Greg Canally be presented to the community as the sole candidate for the permanent executive director job. Canally has served as interim director…

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Council eyes planning around future light rail stations

City Council is set to adopt a plan next month that will guide how areas around Project Connect transit stations develop.  The equitable transit-oriented development policy plan, launched last summer following a $1.65 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration, aims…

Light-rail tunnel under downtown Austin might not happen after all

Some or all of Austin’s light-rail system could be at street level downtown instead of underground, which was the vision sold to voters when they authorized Project Connect in November 2020. The Austin Transit Partnership, a local government corporation created to build the Orange and Blue…

City aims to get out of its own way with 'fast-track' permitting for Project Connect rail lines

An ordinance aimed at streamlining permitting for Project Connect has been making its way through boards and commissions in recent weeks – the latest sign of progress toward new rail and bus lines approved by voters in 2020.  On Tuesday,…

Nonprofit groups getting $20M in Project Connect funds to prevent displacement

The city has named the 14 nonprofit organizations that will use $20 million in funds from Project Connect to enact community-level programs to prevent displacement as the massive transit system moves forward. Last week, the city’s Affordable Housing Finance Corporation…

City prepares to announce community-led anti-displacement projects

The details are coming into focus on proposed partnerships between the city and community organizations to prevent displacement along Project Connect transit lines.  Nefertitti Jackmon, the city’s community displacement prevention officer, described the efforts during a joint meeting of the Planning and…

Real estate, transit leaders see potential for change in Project Connect plans

As planning and early design work on the Project Connect mass transit plan moves forward, with cost increases mounting due to inflation and scope expansion, a Dallas developer told Austin real estate leaders recently that the city has an opportunity…

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