CITY OFFICIALS CHOOSE ON-STREET LIGHT RAIL FOR MASS TRANSIT PLAN

By Subcontractors USA News Provider

Looks like the Austin Transit Partnership announced that they will have a two-train route extending to 38th Street south to Oltorf Street, per reports. It will supplement the eastern addendum from the Yellow Jacket Lane heading towards Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. This will be a part of a five Project Connect set in motion back in March.

The rail itself is expected to cost nearly $5 billion dollars for the 9.8-mile project. For commuters, travel distance ranges up to 23 minutes north to south and 31 minutes from the northern terminus to Yellow Jacket Lane.

Daily ridership for the selected route is expected to reach 28,500 by 2040, with the 15 stations giving passengers access to more than 20,000 affordable housing units, 136,000 current jobs and an additional 200,000 jobs forecast to come into Austin as the population continues to grow.

Greg Canally, ATP’s executive director, said the 38th/Oltorf/ Yellow Jacket route was selected in part because it offered extensive coverage and is opening high-speed transit to portions of the city that have historically lacked significant infrastructure investment.

“It’s a two-line system that gives us the greatest coverage, connects to great affordable housing that’s already been built and is planned, and it gets us to do an investment in a part of the community that’s been underinvested in,” he said. “It also has really fantastic connections to our existing transit network and the transit network that’s going to be built out as the MetroRapids and other elements of that come out.”

The trains that will run on the streets are expected to have a green light timing to prevent frequent stops between intersections. This will help reduce delays that originally were a concern for street-level routes.

Lindsey Wood, who serves as the executive vice president of engineering and construction for ATP, explained that listening to the community’s needs was a central point for change. We heard the desire for the most coverage we can provide from community and on-street gives us that. But we also heard things that on-street will really help us with a system that people can see, understand how to use, and they can access it easily, she said. “It doesn’t have any barriers to accessibility for either people with disabilities, parents pushing strollers, and you don’t have to go upstairs, escalators or elevators. And you can activate the street with it and connect at the level that people are at with the on-street options.”

The ATP, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the City Council will meet to decide on how to proceed in June. After the approval, ATP will begin the environmental impact and approval process at the local and federal levels while beginning the financial diligence needed for the twoyear process to apply for federal transportation funding.