Key Urban Rail Memo Sent to City Council

Posted on May 17, 2012

The City of Austin Transportation Department sent an important memo to City Council Thursday morning providing new details on an expanded regional transit system, including a keystone Urban Rail line.  

Based on staff analysis, the Urban Rail investment option that meets the maximum ridership and economic development potential is identified as a double-tracked route running from the Convention Center to the north and south of Downtown and serving the CBD, Capitol Complex, University of Texas, Hancock Center, Mueller, and East Riverside Corridor.

In recognition that this priority recommendation for investment also requires a great local financial commitment, alternate phasing approaches are considered.

A first phase links the three primary activity hubs within Central Austin, Downtown, Capitol Complex, and UT, to each other and to two Red Line connections and provides an option for a permanent maintenance facility at Mueller.

A second phase would provide another spine through Downtown along Congress Avenue/San Jacinto and extend out from E. Riverside Drive to Pleasant Valley Road. This option could add an additional southern gateway into a capacity-constrained downtown by way of a new multi-modal bridge across Lady Bird Lake. Building this second phase after phase one would allow sufficient time to reduce, mitigate, and manage the potential additional risk of a new lake crossing.

Staff have scheduled two Council work sessions this month, May 22 and May 29 to discuss a potential "next investment" in rail and to synchronize with a potential November 2012 bond program schedule. The first session will define a preliminary phasing/alignment plan and a conceptual funding plan. Staff will recommend a first investment at the May 29 session. 

The City Council will determine when and if a potential rail investment will be presented to voters. More bond meetings between city staff and city council are scheduled in June.