In a striking display of balance, the city’s Transportation Department will both raise downtown parking meter rates and launch a pilot program that aims to ease parking burdens for downtown service industry workers – all in one fell swoop. First, the bad (and fairly mundane) news: Parking meter rates will change from $1 per hour […]
Transportation Department
This city department is responsible for municipal transportation planning including roadways and bikeways.
Posted inTransportation
Audit pinpoints Transportation Department trouble
Austin’s top local transportation official is taking in stride a newly released report from the city auditor that finds plenty of room for improvement on city transportation initiatives. Austin Transportation Director Robert Spillar said he wasn’t surprised by any of the four key findings revealed in the Transportation Effectiveness Audit, which was presented to the […]
Posted inRoads
Transportation Department rolls with punches at polka-dotted intersection
A small Austin Transportation Department project that attracted worldwide headlines earlier this year has had a bumpier road than originally anticipated. The polka-dotted intersection at East Sixth and Waller streets in East Austin became a minor sensation when crews first put it together back in January. The colorful design scored plaudits for keeping Austin weird […]
Posted inTipSheets
Reporter’s Notebook: Music and moments of vindication
Which genre do you live in?… In case you missed it, the city’s district music summits kicked off this weekend with the punk/alternative summit in District 2. Even if you didn’t go, there are nine summits left to catch, each of which offers a genre’d opportunity to weigh in on the Austin Music and Creative […]
Posted inRoads
Discount program aims to detour truckers around Austin
The Texas Transportation Commission voted on Thursday to give cross-state truckers extra incentive to avoid Austin’s notoriously congested stretch of Interstate 35. With only one dissenting voice, the five-person commission – a board of gubernatorial appointees that oversees the Texas Department of Transportation – gave the green light to a temporary discount program to lure […]
Posted inDevelopment
Activists upset about Grove transportation review
Members of the Bull Creek Road Coalition are expressing alarm about what they consider an abrupt end to the transportation review process for Milestone Community Builder’s planned unit development called the Grove at Shoal Creek. Architect Chris Allen sent out a lengthy email to the media on Monday saying that members of the city’s transportation […]
Posted inTransportation
Austin competes for $50 million Smart City grant
A broad coalition of Austin’s political and business leaders is excited about the prospect of the city being awarded $50 million to put in place a variety of groundbreaking “smart” transit technologies. In a presentation to City Council on Thursday, Director of Transportation Robert Spillar explained that city staff is preparing a proposal that will […]
Posted inTransportation
How should Austin fund its transportation needs?
The City Council Mobility Committee largely steered clear of discussing a potential bond election during a meeting Wednesday focused on how the city can finance its looming transportation needs. A bond election, said Council Member Ann Kitchen, who chairs the committee, “is not an inevitability.” “It’s one piece that’s part of our discussion when we […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: STRs forever (and ever)
Airbnb talks SXSW… Once again, short-term rentals are coming back to City Council. With a phase-out of Type 2 short-term rentals still on the table, the industry’s biggest players are working to let Austinites know the value they bring to the city. And, with South by Southwest just around the corner, Airbnb has released some […]
Posted inRoads
What is up with Austin’s traffic signals?
This story is part of KUT’s ATXplained series, which solicits story topics from listeners and investigates those that get the most online votes from the public. The winning topic for this segment was: traffic light synchronization. Picture it: You’re idling at a red light. Maybe it seems like other drivers are getting all the green, […]
Posted inCity Council
Politics clash with process over quarter-cent fund
The idea of dividing Capital Metro’s quarter-cent fund among Austin’s districts based on community recommendations has strong support from City Council. But just how to go about doing that raised some serious questions about process on Thursday. In June, Council passed a resolution directing staff to identify projects eligible for funding in each district. Since […]
Posted inTransportation
Cap Metro asks for more transit in spending plan
As City Council considers a plan to disperse the “quarter-cent fund” among transportation projects around the city, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority – the agency that initially contributed the funding to the city – is asking Council to prioritize more of its spending in a way that emphasizes public transit. “If those funds were general […]