The group that will be weighing in on the alignment for Austin's urban rail met for the first time June 26.

Officially called the Central Corridor Advisory Group, the members will be providing input on public transit solutions for the Project Connect Central Corridor, which would include urban rail. The CCAG will be advising Mayor Lee Leffingwell to prioritize an alignment for urban rail.

The mayor said that any maps that currently show an alignment are not official or final. Kyle Keahey, who serves as the urban rail lead for Project Connect, said a working plan of the project scope and the roles and responsibilities of consultants hired to assist the CCAG will be presented to the CCAG at the next meeting Aug. 16.

"We understand collectively that working with the public is absolutely essential in order to move the project forward," he said. " That is our objective: To make sure that [the urban rail plan] is supported by the public, especially if there is a bond vote involved."

Project Connect is a regional public transit plan led by the city of Austin, Capital Metro and regional rail group Lone Star Rail District. Within the plan are five corridors, and the second-highest priority corridor is the Central Corridor. The first priority is the North Corridor, where the planning team just launched a set of three maps outlining proposed bus and rail service to serve Austin to Georgetown.

The Central Corridor is roughly bounded by MoPac, I-35, 51st Street and Lady Bird Lake and includes access to the Mueller development. Its major activity centers are downtown, the Capitol Complex and The University of Texas. Scott Gross, the city's urban rail program manager, said the corridor has about 166,500 residents and 197,000 employees that represent 23 percent of employees in the region.

"We can get a lot of trips to the core from the north and south and even through, to some degree, on MoPac and I-35," he said. "Really getting into the core is where we struggle."

Leffingwell said the focus of the Central Corridor planning efforts will be on providing service to the three major activity centers. Keahey said the three services that would make the most sense for the capacity and density in the Central Corridor are streetcars, light rail and bus rapid transit.

Leffingwell has said at prior meetings that he would like to put an urban rail bond before voters in 2014.

The CCAG will next meet Aug. 16 at 1:30 p.m. at Austin City Hall. It will continue to meet on Fridays at 1:30 p.m. monthly after that. Meetings will be open to the public.

CCAG members

  • Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell (chairman)
  • Bill Spelman, Austin city councilman
  • John Langmore, vice chairman of the Capital Metro board of directors
  • Sid Covington, chairman of the Lone Star Rail District board
  • Pat Clubb, vice president for university operations at UT
  • Martha Smiley, Austin Area Research Organization
  • Tom Stacy, Downtown Austin Alliance
  • Natalie Madeira Cofield, president and CEO of the Capital City African American Chamber of Commerce
  • Greg Hartman, president and CEO of Seton Medical Center Austin
  • Aundre Dukes, portfolio manager and public liaison for the Texas Facilities Commission
  • Ali Khataw, past chairman of the Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce
  • Andy Martinez, president and CEO of the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
  • Julia Montgomery, citizen and representative from the Austinites for Urban Rail Action
  • Dave Sullivan, citizen and former member of the Austin Planning Commission
  • Tim Taylor, citizen and partner with the Office of Jackson Walker LLP
  • Boone Blocker, citizen and vice chairman of the Urban Transportation Commission