Austin light rail plan renderings unveiled
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A rendering of a light rail train crossing Lady Bird Lake. Image: Courtesy of WAX Architectural Visualizations/Austin Transit Partnership
Austin's revamped light-rail plan is coming into clearer focus.
The big picture: Releasing a draft of the project as it goes to federal regulators, transit planners say construction is on track to start in two years.
- The nearly 10-mile, all-electric train line will feature 15 stations running on Guadalupe from 38th Street to downtown, and from downtown to the east along East Riverside and south on South Congress to Oltorf.
What they're saying: Light rail "will transform how we move around our city as well as bring thousands of jobs to Texas," said Greg Canally, executive director of the Austin Transit Partnership (ATP), set up by the City of Austin and Cap Metro to design, finance and build the project.
Zoom in: Among the new design recommendations:
- Shaded pedestrian and bike paths along East Riverside
- Moving the Faro station closer to Grove Boulevard to better serve the Austin Community College Riverside campus and residents of the city's 107-acre planned affordable housing project nearby
- Adding a downtown station at Wooldridge Square to reduce the distance between stations
Follow the money: The draft plan — technically known as a draft environmental impact statement — submitted to the Federal Transit Administration on Friday was required for projects involving federal money.
- The transit plan approved by voters in 2020 depends on the federal government to pay for up to half the $7.1 billion rail project.
- Local property taxes will pay for debt issued by ATP.
The intrigue: The draft plan comes as lawmakers who tried in 2023 to cripple the project — and failed — reconvene in Austin.
- Meanwhile, the transit proposal could face turbulence on the federal level with the change in administration. Biden administration Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had been a supporter of the Austin project.
- In an email Friday titled "Another Battlefront Opens Today," local attorney Bill Aleshire, who has sued to stop the city of Austin from millions of dollars for the transit project, wrote "it is possible that a sane and global decision will be made by the new Federal Transit Authority administration to cut funding for ... boondoggles like Project Connect."
- ATP officials last month declined an Axios interview request about what the new administration might spell for the project.
Behind the scenes: Even as apartment developers have touted their projects' proximity to light rail, some businesses have cited the project in their decision to close.
What's next: ATP is hosting four public meetings this month.
• Thursday at Lively Middle School, 4:30-7:30pm
• Jan. 22 at the Baker Center, 4:30-7:30pm
• Jan. 25 at the Montopolis Recreation Center, 2:30-5:30pm
• Jan. 28 at the University of Texas in the Texas Union Building Quadrangle Room, 1-4 pm.