Austin Transit Planners Regroup After Bond Defeat

"More than a year after voters turned down Austin’s $1 billion urban rail and roads bond, transit advocates, including Capital Metro planners, are hoping rail planning can gain steam," according to an article by Amy Denney.

In the meantime, there are still transportation construction and planning efforts underway in the city, including a Central Corridor study pursued by Capital Metro and a more speculative light rail project proposed by Scott Morris of the Central Austin Community Development corporation.

Denney details both of the planning proposals as potential selling points for another bond initiative. The Central Corridor study would "use the remaining $3 million in federal and local dollars from the previous bond election to start a new process for examining high-capacity transit, which includes rail, in the downtown area." The proposed light rail line "would run along Lamar, Guadalupe, East Riverside Drive and Pleasant Valley. Within a half-mile of the route 136,450 people would be served as well as 171,206 jobs."