In November, the group planning Austin's urban rail hopes to answer the question, "Where are we going?"

Led by Mayor Lee Leffingwell, the 16 members of the Central Corridor Advisory Group will analyze projected ridership numbers, economic development potential, land use policies, cost and the effect on affordable housing to answer this question.

"In essence, we have a compass around the Central Corridor, and which way are we going to point our compass?" urban rail lead Kyle Keahey said during the

Aug. 16 CCAG meeting. "South to Congress [Avenue?] Mueller? North Lamar? That's the key question that we've got until the end of the year to wrestle with."

The Central Corridor—roughly bounded by RM 2222/Koenig Lane, MoPac, Oltorf Street and Springdale Road—is part of the overarching Project Connect regional transit plan that involves a partnership among the city of Austin, Capital Metro and regional group Lone Star Rail District.

Project Connect's goal is to provide a high-capacity transit system that links cities in Central Texas via bus, express lanes and commuter, regional and urban rail. The vision map indicates Austin could have 40 miles of urban rail.

The Central Corridor has a wealth of factors that contribute to its congestion problems, including a "ring of congestion" around I-35, Lamar Boulevard and MoPac, Keahey said. Other factors that contribute to congestion include 47,000 daily work trips, an average of three festivals per week and a total of 197,000 jobs, which represents 23 percent of the region's total jobs.

"To some degree, Austin is a victim of its own success," Keahey said. "We have tremendous growth, we have tremendous job opportunity in the downtown core and we have tremendous transportation challenges associated with that."

Choosing a route

Keahey said CCAG's goal by November is to define the Central Corridor and choose a priority subcorridor that would represent the first alignment of urban rail.

The group's current task is to review several recommended subcorridors and compare them side-by-side in terms of how many riders the alignment would serve, the cost to build, opportunities for expansion and the potential for development, among other factors.

CCAG will also consider how to connect various employment and growth centers, such as the Capitol Complex, The University of Texas and the Mueller development. The group will use information from the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, which created its own map of growth centers that includes the downtown area and the Mueller development.

Keahey said CCAG will also look at how urban rail ties in with the existing commuter MetroRail and MetroRapid, the bus rapid transit system that comes online in early 2014.

"We've got to make this system work in downtown Austin," he said.

Once CCAG has selected a priority corridor, the group's next task will be to determine the specific alignment and answer the question, "How will we get there?" Keahey said the goal is to set the alignment by June.

Jace Deloney is the founder of Austinites for Urban Rail Action, a grass-roots group that advocates for urban rail. One of the group's executive committee members, Julie Montgomery, is a member of CCAG. Deloney said he has concerns about the tight time frame for choosing an alignment.

"We're not sure if it's good for the quality of product we're trying to create," Deloney said.

AURA's goal is not to push for one alignment over another but to ensure that the city has a productive system in place, Deloney said.

"AURA is not supportive of any one subcorridor. All are part of the Project Connect vision," he said. "We would like to see that the first investment is productive and successful enough to support all subcorridors."

Community input

The Project Connect team has created a community involvement plan to inform residents by hosting open house and workshop events every two months and meeting with stakeholder, neighborhood and community groups, according to CCAG documents.

One of those groups is the Central Austin Community Development Corporation, led by Scott Morris, who is proposing his own alignment that would terminate in North Austin and serve residents in the 78758 and 78753 ZIP codes, which are two of the most populated in Austin.

"[Of the proposed subcorridors], none of them really serve the higher-density northern areas of Austin," he said. "Those areas are diverse, dense and a host to major employers. We feel any first phase could serve the North Lamar Transit Center and accomplish that."

Morris opposes any early phases of urban rail connecting to Mueller but instead is proposing a 3,700-foot extension of the MetroRail as an alternative.

"We will see empty trains cycling out of [the Mueller] development for 20 years," he said. "It would not increase ridership or solve our congestion issues."

Deloney said that the effort to involve the community has improved since the city of Austin spearheaded urban rail planning.

AURA has met with the Project Connect team several times to discuss its concerns and to answer questions.

"This [initiative] is definitely a move forward," Deloney said.

Get involved

Upcoming public meetings

• Sept. 26 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. at St. David's Episcopal Church, 301 E. Eighth St.
• Sept. 26 5–8 p.m. at the Givens Recreation Center, 3811 E. 12th St.
• Sept. 27 noon–1 p.m. webinar at www.projectconnect.com
• Oct. 2 5–8 p.m. at Norris Conference Center, 2525 W. Anderson Lane
• For more information, visit www.projectconnect.com