With the June deadline for a final proposal fast approaching, Austin’s long-awaited light rail system is beginning to take shape. Austin Transit Partnership, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority and city staff all joined City Council’s Housing and Planning Committee last week to discuss the five designs for the first phase of the multibillion-dollar infrastructure project, each […]
Project Connect
This project brought together a series of Central Texas transportation agencies looking to build high-capacity transit options in the region in the wake of CAMPO’s 2035 regional transportation plan. The City of Austin’s much-discussed 2014 Urban Rail plan was part of Project Connect’s efforts.
Posted inTransit
Project Connect could be on the ballot again this November
Austin’s mayor is adopting a new strategy against a Texas bill that threatens to derail the city’s voter-approved transit expansion: Get the legislation passed as quickly as possible with overwhelming support in the Texas House and Senate. The approach seemed shockingly counterintuitive to some Project Connect advocates who would prefer Austin try to slay the […]
Posted inTransit
Council allocates next three years of Project Connect anti-displacement funds
The city continued allocation of Project Connect’s $300 million anti-displacement budget last week. At its regular meeting on April 13, City Council voted to approve a resolution allocating the funds for the next three fiscal years. The first round of funding included $23 million for land acquisition in Fiscal Year 2021-22. Last year, the city […]
Posted inTransit
Mobility Committee weighs feedback on new Project Connect options
Following the release of scaled-back plans for Austin’s future in light rail, representatives from the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Austin Transit Partnership (ATP) and the city provided an updated briefing on Project Connect light rail at the City Council Mobility Committee’s regular meeting last Thursday. Some Council members at the meeting raised concerns about the […]
Posted inTransit
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. The five light rail scenarios, which will be viewed by the public today at an […]
Posted inTransit
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 challenging the Austin Transit Partnership’s (ATP) powers to borrow money come as the organization is […]
Posted inTransit
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 first phase of the system will look like. The Blue Line portion serving downtown and […]
Posted inLand Development Code
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 and community leaders who spoke last Thursday at a special joint meeting on eTODs at […]
Posted inTransit
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 public transit in the city’s history. The Orange and Blue lines eventually will offer frequent service along almost 30 […]
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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 since Randy Clarke resigned last May to take a job in Washington, D.C. ATP Board […]
Posted inPlanning
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 to increase housing – particularly affordable housing – near stations while also preventing displacement. While […]
Posted inTransit
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 lines, is considering ways to cut costs as inflation eats into the budget for the multibillion-dollar system. […]