The Project Connect planning team is recommending a merged Highland-East Riverside priority subcorridor as the potential first route of urban rail or other high-capacity transit options to serve the Central Corridor.
This Central Corridor is part of the regional Project Connect transit plan that aims to provide high-capacity transit options such as urban rail and bus-rapid transit like MetroRapid to improve mobility in Central Texas. The priority subcorridor includes the core that comprises downtown, the Capitol Complex, The University of Texas and West Campus.
"High-capacity transit investment options for the future of Austin is something they've been talking about for a long time, going back 30 years," urban rail lead Kyle Keahey said.
The Project Connect planning team, led by Keahey, recommended the combined Highland-East Riverside subcorridor Nov. 15 to the Central Corridor Advisory Group. This group of 16 members is advising Mayor Lee Leffingwell on choosing the first route of urban rail. The CCAG has been reviewing the 10 suggested subcorridors for the past few weeks and will approve its priority recommendation Dec. 6.
"This recommendation of both is a good recommendation," Mayor Lee Leffingwell said. "Both of these are compatible with the same potential alignment. We could go ahead with both right now, and further down the line, we might have one or the other or both. I'm very supportive of this approach. It gets us where we need to be in the next step."
The decision to propose the Highland-East Riverside subcorridor boiled down to the data that the planning team analyzed, including population and employment densities, ridership, economic development opportunities, congestion and constraints. The team looked at existing and projected data.
In most of these study areas, East Riverside and Highland ranked at the top. Residents who participated in a series of workshops Nov. 5–7 had ranked the Lamar subcorridor as their top choice. However, Lamar did not rank high in the planning team's evaluation of congestion because it has an established network of roads, Keahey said.
Resident feedback
North Austin resident Melinda Schiera attended the Nov. 5 workshop and has already been talking to her neighbors about Project Connect. Her priority subcorridor choice is Highland with Lamar a close second.
"I was trying to connect the dots to what already exists," she said.
Downtown resident Mike Cavazos prefers the Lamar corridor because the potential for ridership is the greatest.
"You're not going to build a second leg if people see these rail lines empty and not being used," he said.
He said attending the Nov. 5 workshop was an eye-opener and a good exercise on understanding the data and details and is impressed with the work of the planning team so far.
"They put a lot of thought into how they are doing it," he said.
During the Nov. 15 meeting, transportation planner Lyndon Henry from the Texas Association for Public Transportation questioned why the Project Connect planning team did not choose the Lamar subcorridor.
"The Texas Transportation Institute has identified the basic problem of congestion on the Guadalupe/Lamar corridor. Why aren't we going with that instead of taking a direction entirely different?" he said.
Future options
The Highland-East Riverside subcorridor would represent just the first phase of high-capacity transit options. Keahey said ultimately the goal would be to connect all 10 subcorridors to the core.
"Lamar, Mueller and East Austin are likely next phases," Keahey said.
Starting in January, the planning team will begin Phase 2 of the planning process to select the route and mode of transportation, which could be urban rail or another form of high-capacity transit such as light rail, streetcar or bus-rapid transit.
Keahey said the goal is to find the best project along the Highland-East Riverside subcorridor that would make it competitive for federal funding from the Federal Transit Administration.
"This is a balanced solution. It balances the opportunity to serve existing needs and shape future needs of the area," he said.
Next steps
Dec. 6: The CCAG will approve the recommended priority subcorridor at 1:30 p.m. at Austin City Hall.
December: City Council and the Capital Metro board will be briefed on the Highland-East Riverside priority subcorridor recommendation.
January–June 2014: The Project Connect planning team and CCAG will look at a specific alignment, cost, challenges and mode of transportation among other criteria.
June 2014: The Project Connect planning team and CCAG will recommend a final alignment for urban rail that will need approval by City Council, the Capital Metro board of directors and the Lone Star Rail District board.
August 2014: City Council would need to set the ballot language for a bond referendum on the Nov. 4, 2014, ballot asking voters to approve the urban rail project.
