AUSTIN | Transportation Updates

[drummer]

They mentioned that it would look like 635 in Dallas, which is similar to what lzppjb posted there.

[Novacek]

I found the TxDot press release, fwiw

http://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/me.../032-2017.html

[brando]

Originally Posted by The ATX

This is rather surprising since the plan to add one lane in each direction to the upper deck and one in each direction on the lower level seemed to be a done deal. I guess this new plan doesn't have any affect on all the work already underway on I-35 in South Austin.
Stacking six lanes in pairs in each direction means the frontage roads will still be at least three lanes in each direction. All totaled this would be 18 lanes through central Austin. Two levels of underground levels is going to be sick.

Most of the money being spent for I-35 right now are on road over/under passes which often necessitate revisions to the highway entrance/exits. William Cannon, Stassney, Oltorf, Riverside and 51st will all see an overhaul to their intersections before the main I-35 work mainlane work is done.

[ivanwolf]

I took the MoPac Express lane south today for the first time. Left Leander at about 7:10-15 or so and Waze said 39min. I tried it to see if it was really a good thing to do or just something I'd only do very little since the price changes.

I got to work in the time said by Waze. But for today's traffic I could have gotten off at the Far West exit as the traffic south of there was at the same pace as the Express Lane. At the Far West exit there was about half mile slow down but it picked up good after that to match the Express Lane. The first segment from Parmer to Far West was $1, The second section was $2.60. So you can see I should have gotten off. But It was a cool experiment. I'd say check your google traffic first and plan what you want to do stay the course or exit. Anyone else try the Express Lane yet?

[We vs us]

EXCLUSIVE: Costs rising, timeline slipping for new MetroRail station

The new downtown MetroRail station will take two years longer to complete than Capital Metro said just a few months ago, and cost about 80 percent more than the original $22 million estimate.
That $39.4 million cost to move and expand the “temporary” station, which has sat at Fourth and Neches streets since the commuter rail line opened in March 2010, now includes several underground utility projects that drove up the cost considerably. Austin will pay $3 million of that cost.

snip

The Lance Armstrong Bikeway would remain along Fourth. But during construction, now expected to run from 2019 to 2021, the cycling path would temporarily jog up to East Fifth Street on Trinity and return to Fourth via Sabine. That would temporarily displace three blocks of parking on East Fifth and cost the city about $250,000 in lost parking revenue over the course of construction, Capital Metro officials said.

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/excl...7BARzl34JYy9M/

[brando]

Originally Posted by We vs us

EXCLUSIVE: Costs rising, timeline slipping for new MetroRail station



snip



http://www.mystatesman.com/news/excl...7BARzl34JYy9M/

That all seems understandable. Bummer though. They would have such a nightmare with utility work if they ever actually built a light rail line.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by We vs us

EXCLUSIVE: Costs rising, timeline slipping for new MetroRail station



snip



http://www.mystatesman.com/news/excl...7BARzl34JYy9M/

Ben Wear is always fucking full of it.

When they were awarded the grant in 2014 they estimated "The new station configuration is estimated to cost between $30 million and $35 million, part of which will come from local partners."

Maybe "partners" didn't come through, but the estimate didn't go up 80%.


https://www.capmetro.org/About-Capit...es/4294968766/

[brando]

Presention on how corridor improvement program from the 2016 bond: https://t.co/hH6uRHBkqr

They are doing a good job at creating a solid foundation to make the most of out the little money they have for all of these corridors. Hopefully they'll be able to score some outside funding to help.

[brando]

Council taking up an item that if rejected, would delay the slaughter overpass. Citizen railed against the TxDot studies which a federal judge upheld. Seems like a lame way to undermine that decision but I could be wrong about that legal issue.

[OU812]

Any votes for an EAST/WEST corridor tunnel? Connecting i35 to Mopac. Perhaps right under 6th Street. Of course this would likely take 20 years to build. By then fuhgettaboutit, AI bots will have taken over and we'll be confined to mini bubble cities.

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by OU812

Any votes for an EAST/WEST corridor tunnel? Connecting i35 to Mopac. Perhaps right under 6th Street. Of course this would likely take 20 years to build. By then fuhgettaboutit, AI bots will have taken over and we'll be confined to mini bubble cities.

I'd be more excited for The Boring Company to build a brilliant tunnel system for Austin. I'm not even going to get into it on this thread, but a subway (PRT or subcar) is the only thing I believe would work for Austin.

[ToTheSky]

Originally Posted by ahealy

I'd be more excited for The Boring Company to build a brilliant tunnel system for Austin. I'm not even going to get into it on this thread, but a subway (PRT or subcar) is the only thing I believe would work for Austin.

[nixcity]

^Agreed, at least to some point. Project Connect 2 will give a debriefing in a meeting of the UTC today where they basically will be kicking off mode of choice for the corridors with the focus being on the G/L, S. Congress alignment. We don't need the whole line underground but there are some spots where it would really help in building a robust system in the coming decades. It would be nice to see some city officials engaging with the Boring Company to test out their machine.

[Novacek]

The preliminary recommendations for the Brodie/Slaughter/William Cannon corridors are out.

www.austintexas.gov/BSWcorridors

The other corridors are held up waiting on the S/WC recommendations.


From what I can tell (and as the planners signaled earlier) for the most part they're treating these corridors as more suburban. Some of the profiles are new ones from the austin mobility plan draft, such as a shared use path on both sides instead of sidewalks/bike lanes.

[llamaorama]

I don't think any of Elon Musk's underground transit ideas would be useful unless the capacity where higher. Maybe if a bus type vehicle could use the tunnels.

I've always thought, considering how rapid Austin's growth is, it deserves to start on something a little more ambitious than just streetcars or light rail, instead imagine a modern subway system. In the rest of the world cities Austin's size have those kinds of systems.

maybe a compromise would be an underground tunnel for BRT that would just go under downtown. As robot cars emerge it would have a second purpose in handling autonomous mini buses and vehicles of that nature.

[ahealy]

Originally Posted by llamaorama

I don't think any of Elon Musk's underground transit ideas would be useful unless the capacity where higher. Maybe if a bus type vehicle could use the tunnels.

I've always thought, considering how rapid Austin's growth is, it deserves to start on something a little more ambitious than just streetcars or light rail, instead imagine a modern subway system. In the rest of the world cities Austin's size have those kinds of systems.

maybe a compromise would be an underground tunnel for BRT that would just go under downtown. As robot cars emerge it would have a second purpose in handling autonomous mini buses and vehicles of that nature.

Exactly what I was getting at! Perhaps not subway cars, but smaller versatile electric self driving buses.

[OU812]

Originally Posted by llamaorama

I don't think any of Elon Musk's underground transit ideas would be useful unless the capacity where higher. Maybe if a bus type vehicle could use the tunnels.

I've always thought, considering how rapid Austin's growth is, it deserves to start on something a little more ambitious than just streetcars or light rail, instead imagine a modern subway system. In the rest of the world cities Austin's size have those kinds of systems.

maybe a compromise would be an underground tunnel for BRT that would just go under downtown. As robot cars emerge it would have a second purpose in handling autonomous mini buses and vehicles of that nature.

Btw,
Elon Musk's flying-through-a-small-tube system like in Futurama is terrifying.
I don't see it catching on. At least not with actual humans. Maybe perhaps as another means for Amazon products to get to you faster. lol

[nixcity]

instead imagine a modern subway system. In the rest of the world cities Austin's size have those kinds of systems.

Agree, however Austin does not have the density that cities around the world have to justify that kind of investment (unless it is in the G/L corridor). American cities (except a few) can't compare to the density levels as found in Europe and Asia.

[brando]

Originally Posted by nixcity

Agree, however Austin does not have the density that cities around the world have to justify that kind of investment (unless it is in the G/L corridor). American cities (except a few) can't compare to the density levels as found in Europe and Asia.

I don't know if I agree about G/N.L. I think you have to look at density within 1/4 mile of a transit line and I don't think you see it. Sadly, there is only so far people will walk and Cap Metro is having a hard time telling people that they need to make density adjustments that will cause them to walk 1/2 mile to a bus stop. I think S. Lamar is the densest corridor with respect to people who really live on the corridor. However, I'm not an expert.

Originally Posted by Novacek

The preliminary recommendations for the Brodie/Slaughter/William Cannon corridors are out.

www.austintexas.gov/BSWcorridors

The other corridors are held up waiting on the S/WC recommendations.

From what I can tell (and as the planners signaled earlier) for the most part they're treating these corridors as more suburban. Some of the profiles are new ones from the austin mobility plan draft, such as a shared use path on both sides instead of sidewalks/bike lanes.

I'm pretty sure that it's the other way around. The whole process is held up because they can't issue recommendations of which projects to do until the studies for William Cannon and Slaughter are done. These documents don't represent everything they are going to do for this round of work. They are just all the things they can do which will be considered along with all the things that they can do for all the other corridors which have been done for years.

I think they are more likely to focus on William Cannon projects closer to 35 because that 35 interchange is being re-done so improving flow to it gives you more bang for your buck.

However, the Slaughter/35 interchange is a huge bottleneck so working on that part of Slaughter isn't going to give you as much benefit as working closer to Mopac where they are building a Diamond Interchange which moves an incredible amount of cars. You also won't be bogging down the same side of 2 adjacent corridors.


It's going to be really interesting to see if the bond group recommends doing any of the "long term" improvements which are all the most expensive projects in the corridor. I'm especially curious if we'll see the "super street" on 969 from 183 to Decker. It might make sense because it would help increase capacity to the new 183 expressway.

They only have around 400 million dollars to spend on about 2.5 billion dollars of projects spread out on 9 corridors. It could be 10 if they also consider a current study of Guadalupe from MLK to 29th. We are going to see an awesome ward politics debate from the council when recommendations come out. No one wants to point out to Kitchen and Garza that they are currently getting almost 100 million dollars in I-35 work while the rest of austin settles for a roundabout on the 51st frontage road.

Here are all of the plans if anyone is interested: http://austintexas.gov/corridors

[brando]

Cap Metro plan up for a vote today

https://www.austinmonitor.com/storie...an-vote-today/

The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors is set to vote today on a major overhaul of its bus system. If approved, the changes would take effect in June, changing more than half of all routes in the area.

While some buses would run more often, other routes would be eliminated. Some are calling it the agency’s most significant overhaul ever.

Capital Metro has held a handful of public meetings and webinars, as well as posted information at bus stops, since September.

But some regular riders, like Veronica Nelson, didn’t know that proposed changes were on the table. Nelson catches the No. 5 bus on Speedway to commute from her apartment to her job downtown. Under the new plan, the No. 5 would be moved off Speedway and onto Lamar Boulevard.

Capital Metro notes that riders have other options nearby, like the No. 7 bus on Duval Street. But for Nelson, that means a longer walk.

“If I go take the 7, there’s no guarantee that I’m going to be able to catch it on time, because I have to walk over to it,” she said. “But also it makes, I guess, more popular stops through campus. It generally takes longer.”



The plan also proposes eliminating 13 bus routes, two of which would not be replaced with any alternative service. Todd Hemingson, Capital Metro’s vice president of strategic planning and development, said the goal is to make the system more efficient and grid-like, with an emphasis on more frequent service.

“By that, we mean routes that operate every 15 minutes, or better, essentially all day long, seven days a week,” Hemingson said, “and that’s a pretty big change for us.”

He says the changes would mean fewer buses twisting and turning through neighborhood streets. According to Capital Metro’s own analysis, most people would still live a short walk away from a stop.

“What we found is that 97.6 percent of current riders will still be within a five-minute walk of service if the board approves the plan,” Hemingson said.

What’s not certain is how the new plan could affect MetroAccess, an on-demand ride service for people with disabilities. Capital Metro’s latest reports show that every weekday, more than 2,000 people use the service. Hemingson said his team will introduce a plan that would incorporate those services, though he can’t disclose the details just yet.

“We’re going to propose something that we think will address most, if not all, of the concerns we’ve heard,” he said.

This story was produced as part of the Austin Monitor’s reporting partnership with KUT. Photo by Pavel Mezihorak for KUT.