Hosted at Bethany Lutheran Church on Slaughter Lane, the open house was the last in a series of three public engagement events held over the last week as part of the 2016 Mobility Bond Corridor Program.
The bond, approved by Austin voters in November 2016, authorized $720 million for local, corridor and regional transportation and mobility improvements, of which $482 million is earmarked for corridor improvement projects.
Sara Behunek, communications manager for the Corridor Program Implementation Office, said since 2011 the city of Austin has been working to develop corridor mobility reports that identify short, medium and long-term transportation improvements for seven of the city's busiest corridors. William Cannon Drive from Southwest Parkway to McKinney Falls Parkway, Slaughter Lane from FM 1826 to Vertex Road, and Brodie Lane from Slaughter Lane to FM 1626 are all part of the corridor improvement project.
"The city is working with the community to develop mobility plans to help us prioritize which projects yield better outcome for residents," Behunek said.
City staff and project engineers were on site Tuesday evening to help address concerns or questions for residents in attendance.[/caption]City staff and project engineers were available on Tuesday to answer any questions and help better inform residents about the project. Randy Harvey, project manager in the Austin's public works department, was one of many staffers on hand to address any concerns from residents.
"Our goal is to let citizens and stakeholders take a look at our aerials and posters that show the existing conditions of these corridors and gather comment from residents who use these roads," Harvey said. "They offer a different perspective for these improvements that we don't always see."
Community input
Tuesday's open house allowed residents to make comments on a paper map of each road with handwritten Post-it Notes. Some comments included more bike lanes, bus stops and sidewalks, and transit improvements for light-signal timing and turn lanes.
An online survey and map is also available for residents to give feedback until June 18.
"These comments range all across the board," Behunek said. "It really gives us a good idea of what people are looking for."
Next step
The city plans to present draft recommendations based on this first round of public input later this summer. At that time, a second round of public meetings will be held to refine the concept and plans. Recommendations for improvements to Slaughter Lane and William Cannon Drive will be presented to City Council later this year.
