With the neighborhood, the developer and the Zoning and Platting Commission all agreeing to a plan that would add a road with access only through an emergency crash gate, City Council approved single-family small lot zoning, SF-4A, for property at 1601 Cedar Bend Drive on Thursday. The vote was 8-3 on second reading only, with […]
Transportation Department
This city department is responsible for municipal transportation planning including roadways and bikeways.
Posted inTransportation
Committee suggests new Uber, Lyft regulations
Transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft may be on the way to stricter safety regulations and higher fees based on recommendations that the City Council Mobility Committee made on Wednesday. The operating fee recommendations would establish a charge that is equivalent either to the annual fee that taxicab companies pay per license or […]
Posted inTransportation
Council making plans for mobility money
With the budget behind them, Austin City Council members can turn their attention to other projects – chief among them, dividing up a little more than $21 million in money from the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The funds are known as the quarter-cent money because the transportation agency collects a quarter-cent in sales tax. On […]
Posted inTransportation
Austin’s most dangerous intersections to get fixes
There may not be a silver bullet that will fix Austin’s increasing traffic fatality problems, but the city is taking a leap forward by funding safety improvements to its five most dangerous intersections starting in October. With little fanfare, City Council included the projects – compiled by the Transportation Department – in the Fiscal Year […]
Posted inBudget
Zimmerman plan to “rebalance” transportation spending splits Council
City Council Member Don Zimmerman would like to see a change in Austin’s transportation infrastructure spending. His proposal, which would mandate at least $2 million per district for mobility Capital Improvement Projects, won varying levels of support from Council Members Ora Houston, Ellen Troxclair, Sheri Gallo and Ann Kitchen on Wednesday. However, it remains unclear […]
Posted inTransportation
City may fix five most dangerous intersections
So far this year, Austin has already had 76 traffic fatalities – 13 more than it did in all of 2014. Now, City Council is considering taking immediate action by funding traffic safety improvements at Austin’s five most dangerous intersections in the forthcoming city budget. On Sept. 2, Austin Transportation Department staff submitted a budget-question […]
Posted inTransportation
Google gears up for new self-driving car in Austin
Austinites who have spotted Google’s self-driving Lexus in the past couple of months will have a new rarity to keep an eye out for in the next week or so – the company’s “prototype” autonomous vehicle. Built for the task from the ground up, it sports a futuristic, if unusual, look. Following Saturday’s announcement, Jennifer […]
Posted inAustin
How to change a street name in Austin? It’s tricky.
The statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis will stay put on the University of Texas at Austin campus, for now. While a request for a temporary restraining order is holding up the statue relocation, the original decision to move it came after the school convened a panel of professors, alumni and current students. The process of […]
Posted inRoads
Alternative to MoPac “double-deck” being studied
In the wake of public outcry against a proposal to add elevated lanes to MoPac Expressway over Lady Bird Lake and Zilker Park, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is considering an alternative that the Austin Transportation Department first put forward in May. The staff alternative cuts out a “double-deck” design and a southbound flyover […]
Posted inTransportation
Updated: City staff asks for more Uber, Lyft accountability
Uber and Lyft drivers are operating all over Austin, but there is no way, sans app, to point out their cars, and the city can’t keep track of who has signed up. Transportation Department staff, however, are hoping that will change soon. Gordon Derr, an assistant director with the department, recommended to the City Council […]
Posted inCity Council
Council to disperse quarter-cent fund “equitably”
On Thursday, City Council took the first step in a plan to disperse the $21.8 million remaining in the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Quarter-Cent Fund “equitably across all Council districts” for transportation and mobility improvement projects. In a resolution, Council directed Transportation Department and Public Works Department staff to work with each Council member and […]
Posted inCity Hall
Changes coming to City Hall parking
Changes are coming to the City Hall parking garage this summer. Garage users will have to find a new route to their space. And, once there, they may need to have a little more cash on hand. According to a May 29 memo from Austin Transportation Department Director Robert Spillar, beginning July 27, people parking at […]